Association of Community Cancer Centers to Honor Founder of Psycho-Oncology

ROCKVILLE, Md. – February 25, 2013 - Jimmie C. Holland, MD, will be honored with the Association of Community Cancer Centers’ (ACCC) Annual Achievement Award for excellence in advocacy, dedication, and commitment to the care and treatment of patients with cancer.

The award will be presented at the ACCC 39th Annual National Meeting on Thursday, March 7, 2013, in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Holland is recognized internationally as the founder of the subspecialty of psycho-oncology. She is the Wayne E. Chapman Chair in Psychiatric Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, N.Y.

She has been at the forefront of efforts to delineate the prevalence and nature of the psychological and psychiatric implications of cancer for patients, their families, and healthcare professionals. She pioneered ways in which counseling, psychosocial interventions, and medications can reduce the distress experienced by cancer patients and their families.

Dr. Holland was the first chair of Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and the founding president of both the International Psycho-Oncology Society and the American Psychosocial and Behavioral Oncology Society. In 2000, she published a book for patients titled The Human Side of Cancer. In 1995, she became a fellow of the Institute of Medicine. In addition, she has served on many national committees for the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute. She has directed a support group for patients with lung cancer for more than 15 years, and now also co-leads a group for older adults who are coping with illness and cancer. This intervention is also being offered over the telephone to housebound elderly. In September 1994, oncology’s unique husband and wife team, James F. Holland, MD, and his wife Jimmie, were both honored with ACCC’s Clinical Research Award for their distinguished contributions.