Otis Brawley
As the chief medical and scientific officer and executive vice president of the American Cancer Society, Otis
Webb Brawley, MD, is responsible for promoting the goals of cancer prevention, early detection, and quality
treatment through cancer research and education. He champions efforts to decrease smoking, improve diet,
detect cancer at the earliest stage, and provide the critical support cancer patients need. He also guides efforts to
enhance and focus the research program, upgrade the Society’s advocacy capacity, and concentrate community
cancer control efforts in areas where they will be most effective. Further, as an acknowledged global leader in the
field of health disparities research, Dr. Brawley is a key leader in the Society’s work to eliminate disparities in
access to quality cancer care.
Dr. Brawley currently serves as professor of hematology, oncology, medicine and epidemiology at Emory
University. He is also a medical consultant to the Cable News Network (CNN). From April of 2001 to November
of 2007, he was medical director of the Georgia Cancer Center for Excellence at Grady Memorial Hospital in
Atlanta, and deputy director for cancer control at the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University. He has also
previously served as a member of the Society’s Prostate Cancer Committee, co-chaired the U.S. Surgeon
General’s Task Force on Cancer Health Disparities, and filled a variety of positions at the National Cancer
Institute (NCI), most recently serving as Assistant Director.
Currently, Dr. Brawley is a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on
Breast Cancer in Young Women. He was a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Breast
and Cervical Cancer Early Detection and Control Advisory Committee. He served as a member of the Food and
Drug Administration Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee and Chaired the NIH Consensus Panel on the
Treatment of Sickle Cell Disease.
He is listed by Castle Connelly as one of America’s Top Doctors for Cancer. Among numerous other awards, he
was a Georgia Cancer Coalition Scholar and received the Key to St. Bernard Parish for his work in the U.S. Public
Health Service in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Dr. Brawley is a graduate of University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine. He completed a residency in
internal medicine at University Hospitals of Cleveland, Case-Western Reserve University, and a fellowship in
medical oncology at the National Cancer Institute.
Abstracts this author is presenting: