Internationally Recognized Specialist Receives the 2016 ACCC Clinical Research Award

ROCKVILLE, MD. – Michael O’Connell, MD, received the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) 2016 Clinical Research Award in recognition of the significant and positive impact of his research on the oncology patient, family, and the community. ACCC President Jennie R. Crews, MD, MMM, FACP, accepted the award on Dr. O’Connell’s behalf on Thursday, October 20, 2016, at the 33rd National Oncology Conference, in St. Louis, Missouri.

Dr. O’Connell is an internationally recognized specialist in the treatment of gastrointestinal tract cancers, and a prolific researcher who has authored or co-authored more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, 150 scientific abstracts, and 25 textbook chapters in his field.

Dr. O'Connell was among a select group of cancer specialists invited to the White House in 1996 for President Clinton's announcement of major changes in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) policy for approval of oncology drugs. He was selected to participate in the National Dialogue on Cancer chaired by President and Mrs. George H. Bush and the 2001 World Summit Against Cancer in Paris, France.

He has helped direct numerous studies that have resulted in better treatment protocols for cancer of the colon and rectum, and is currently a leader of a national study on the efficacy of a new anti-angiogenesis therapy combined with standard chemotherapy in patients who have already had surgery for stage II or stage III colon cancer.

Dr. O'Connell currently serves as an associate chairman of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), as a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Association for Cancer Research, and on the Board of Directors for the Coalition of National Cancer Cooperative Groups. He is also a member of the National Cancer Institute steering committee for gastrointestinal cancer cooperative group clinical trials.

Among the past winners of the prestigious annual ACCC Clinical Research Award are Patricia Layton, RN, BSN; Nicholas J. Petrelli, MD, FACS; David S. Alberts, MD; Charles M. Balch, MD, FACS; Al B. Benson III, MD, FACP; Donna Berry, PhD, RN, AOCN®, FAAN; David H. Johnson, MD; Lillian M. Nail, PhD, RN, FAAN; Daniel D. Von Hoff, MD, FACP; Saul Rivkin, MD; Henry Lynch, MD; and Vincent DeVita, Jr., MD.