Larry Norton, Md

Biography

Dr. Larry Norton is a board-certified medical oncologist with broad interests in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. He is currently the principal investigator of a program project grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and on a national level, was formerly the Chair of the Breast Committee of the NCI’s Cancer and Leukemia Group B. He also served as President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) from 2001-2002, and was appointed by President Clinton to serve on the National Cancer Advisory Board.

Research Interest

 He has also received ASCO’s highest honor, the David A. Karnofsky Award. His research concerns the basic biology of cancer; the mathematics of tumor causation and growth; and the development of approaches to better diagnosis, prevention, and drug treatment of the disease. He is involved in many areas of research including identifying the genes that predispose people to cancer or that cause cancer, developing new drugs, monoclonal antibodies that target growth factor receptors, and vaccines. A major milestone in his research career was the development of an approach to therapy called “dose density,” or “sequential dose density.” This is a new and more effective way of using anti-cancer drugs, based on a mathematical model he developed with his colleagues, which maximizes the killing of cancer cells while minimizing toxicity.