Case CCC sadly shares that Clark Distelhorst, MD, an important and long-standing member, has passed away.
An early recruit to the new hematology oncology division established by Nathan Berger, MD, at the CWRU School of Medicine, Distelhorst was appointed a member of the emerging cancer center in 1985.
He led the CWRU T32-funded Cancer Biology Training grant for 23 years and the Cancer Cell Signaling Program of Case CCC for 27 years. He was a member of multiple study sections and review panels for the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the American Cancer Society.
Distelhorst's prowess as both a physician and scientist was recognized with his appointment as the Charles S. Britton II Professor of Hematology/Oncology. He also was honored with the Stohlman Memorial Award of the Leukemia Society of America, was an elected member of the Association of American Physicians, and received a Harrington Scholar-Innovator Award from the Harrington Discovery Institute for his development of a Bcl2 binding peptide therapeutic agent.
Distelhorst was recognized as the consummate academic research gentleman, careful with offering his insight, dedicated to his trainees, and artful in the detail with which he addressed every pathway he considered. Few could manage a grant application with the rigor he routinely applied. As a clinician consultant in benign and malignant hematology, he was thorough with his patients and colleagues.
His impact at Case CCC and on the academic lives of so many trainees, fellows, colleagues, and physicians was exceptional and his quiet enthusiasm for scientific discovery will be sorely missed.