'Father of Tamoxifen'

Breast cancer research pioneer Craig Jordan joins MD Anderson

BY Ron Gilmore

MD Anderson welcomes V. Craig Jordan, Ph.D., one of the world’s preeminent experts in breast cancer research and treatment. Jordan is considered the “father of tamoxifen,” the drug that’s saved countless lives.

Jordan, who was born in New Braunfels, Texas, and raised in England, reinvented a failed contraceptive, created in the 1960s to block estrogen, as a breast cancer treatment. Jordan developed the strategy of long-term adjuvant tamoxifen therapy and deciphered the properties of a new group of medicines called selective estrogen receptor modulators. He also discovered the preventive abilities of tamoxifen and raloxifene, both Food and Drug Administration approved for reducing breast cancer incidence in high-risk women.

As a professor in Breast Medical Oncology and Molecular and Cellular Oncology, Jordan will focus on the new biology of estrogen-induced cell death. He joined MD Anderson in October.

Jordan previously was scientific director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He also served as the Vincent T. Lombardi Chair of Translational Cancer Research and vice chairman of the Department of Oncology and professor of oncology and pharmacology at Georgetown University’s Medical School.

More Stories From Promise

A message from Ron DePinho, M.D.

A word from the president

Driven to make a difference

Triple-negative breast cancer survivor helps others celebrate life's priceless moments

Can-do spirit drives campaign to fight

Survivor creates foundation for hope, one donation at a time

EndTobacco™

A collaborative effort to combat America's most persistent health threat

iPromise

Sandy Bobet, of Katy, is a cancer survivor who lost her husband and one of her sons to the disease within a year of each other. Here, she reflects on the hope

Survivors Say

Andrew Davison, of Boulder, Colo., is president of Gaiam Inc., a leading producer of fitness accessories that's dedicated to healthy and eco-conscious living. He and his wife, Brooke, have a daughter and a son. Andrew was diagnosed with stage I lung cancer in August 2013.