[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 150 (Friday, October 31, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11568-S11569]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO HELENE S. SMITH

 Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, on June 5, 1997, a remarkable woman 
and superb scientist, Dr. Helene Smith, died at her home in California.
  Dr. Smith's scholarly activities and indefatigable personality 
influenced the scientific community well beyond San Francisco's 
California Pacific Medical Center, where she directed the Geraldine 
Brush Cancer Research Institute.
  There is great sadness as well as irony associated with Dr. Smith's 
death from breast cancer, a disease she devoted much of her life to 
studying.
  Her friend and colleague, Dr. Ann Thor, professor of pathology and 
surgery at the Northwestern University School of Medicine, has written 
a very moving tribute which will be published in the Journal of Mammary 
Gland Biology and Neoplasia (Volume 3, Issue 1, in press).
  I am grateful to Dr. Thor, Dr. Peggy Neville, editor of the Journal, 
and to Plenum Publishing Corp. for permission to use this tribute, and 
I ask that it be printed in the Record.
  The tribute follows:

                    Helene Smith, Ph.D.: A Memorial

                          (By Ann Thor, M.D.)

       Dr. Helene Smith, who has contributed greatly to our 
     understanding of and research devoted to breast cancer, died 
     recently of that disease. Dr. Smith was a leader in the 
     scientific community--publishing extensively in the fields of 
     breast cancer cell biology and molecular genetics. Helene had 
     a uniquely personal battle with breast cancer, as it claimed 
     several family members including a sister. Her enthusiasm and 
     involvement in breast cancer research was unique. Those who 
     knew her well understood that her motivations went beyond the 
     norm and closely approximated a religious zeal, even before 
     her own diagnosis. As noted by Dr. Edison Liu, Director of 
     the Division of Clinical Sciences of the National Cancer 
     Institute of the National Institutes of Health, ``Her sense 
     of conviction to the conquest of breast cancer made her one 
     of the most compelling advocates. This sense was contagious 
     and invigorated her colleagues to overcome petty barriers to 
     interaction so that we may act as a unified force in breast 
     cancer research.''
       As both patient and experienced researcher, she developed 
     insights regarding the positive and negative aspects of our 
     current health care system, traditional medical approaches 
     and the infrastructure which supports breast cancer research 
     in this country. Helene actively promoted interactions 
     between clinicians of all specialties, basic researchers and 
     patient advocates to foster new approaches where traditional 
     measures have failed. She served tirelessly as the principal 
     investigator of a program project to develop new molecular 
     and cellular markers for predicting breast cancer prognosis, 
     and as co-principle investigator of a Special Program of 
     Research Excellence (SPORE) to develop novel approaches to 
     breast cancer therapeutics. Dr. Smith was Chair of the 
     Integration Panel of the Department of Defense Breast Cancer 
     Research Program and served as well on the National Advisory 
     Board of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Helene received many 
     honors for her accomplishments in traditional breast cancer 
     science. In 1995 she was honored by the Komen Foundation with 
     the prestigious Brinker International Award for Breast Cancer 
     Research.
       Dr. Smith was a pioneer supporter of breast cancer patient 
     advocates and encouraged their participation in research 
     programs. According to one advocate, Deborah Collyar, ``When 
     I first met her, she was very much against advocates getting 
     involved in science . . . however, she began to see how 
     important it was to start bringing in the patient 
     perspective. Helene became one of the best patient advocates 
     I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.'' In this unusual 
     role, she worked tirelessly with patient groups to explain 
     the science and serve as a translator of traditional 
     medicine.
       Helene believed that her own role in research was best 
     carried out at a small institute rather than at a large 
     university. She used the metaphor that her institute (the 
     Geraldine Brush Cancer Research Institute of California 
     Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco) was a canoe and that 
     universities were ocean liners. According to her husband, 
     Allan Smith M.D., she believed that a canoe was best to 
     explore new territory and negotiate sudden turns (e.g., new 
     research directions) and ocean liners were better at 
     conventional work (e.g., major research protocols). She 
     believed that both of these approaches were necessary for the 
     advancement of science, but novel research was more fun.
       Helene's immersion into breast cancer from all aspects of 
     her professional and personal life allowed her to develop 
     novel ideas regarding cancer therapeutics as well. Spiritual 
     and physical aspects of the disease overlapped, driving a 
     renewed interest in cancer immunology, epigenetic factors and 
     complementary medicine. Some transgressions away from 
     traditional science were not always favorably considered by 
     more traditional scientific colleagues, but Helene persisted 
     and sought to apply strict scientific methods and study 
     designs to test complementary approaches. As noted by her 
     clinician Debu Tripathy, M.D., ``The popular field of 
     alternative and complementary medicine, ranging from herbal 
     medicine to mind-body interaction, was of great interest to 
     Helene, although she adopted a rigorous scientific approach 
     in order to evaluate them.'' As an outgrowth of those 
     interests, she helped found the California Pacific Medical 
     Center's Institute for Health and Healing as

[[Page S11569]]

     well as the Research Institute's new division, the 
     Complementary Medicine Research Institute, which encompasses 
     clinical and scientific laboratory based programs to study 
     alternative medical approaches. ``Helene envisioned a 
     practice of science and medicine without boundaries,'' 
     according to Dr. Tripathy.
       Dr. Smith graduated BS Cum Laude from the University of 
     Pennsylvania in 1962 and received a Doctorate in Microbiology 
     from the University of Pennsylvania in 1967. A postdoctoral 
     research position at Princeton University in Professor Arthur 
     B. Pardee's laboratory from 1967-69 laid the ground work for 
     her interests in cell culture and cellular transformation. 
     Her first breast cancer research manuscript was published in 
     1973. This was followed by decades of important citations--
     resulting in over 100 publications. One of her last 
     manuscripts published by Science, ``Loss of Heterozygosity in 
     Normal Tissue Adjacent to Breast Carcinomas'' (Vol. 274, 
     1996), described genetic losses in morphologically normal 
     lobular epithelium adjacent to breast cancers. These findings 
     support her ``stochastic model of breast carcinogenesis'', a 
     multivariate model of acquired genetic change. Helene 
     believed that molecular alterations might someday be used to 
     predict breast carcinogenesis or the biology of breast 
     cancers in individual women. Her findings also suggest that 
     our current methods of tissue evaluation (histopathologic 
     evaluation) may be inadequate as the science is further 
     developed. Helene sought to identify new intermediate 
     endpoints and understand early changes in the process of 
     breast carcinogenesis. She felt that a combination of 
     traditional pathology and molecular diagnostics would be 
     more informative for individual patients than a 
     categorical system based on histopathology alone.
       As a result of her leadership in science, ability to cross 
     over disciplines, devotion to translational advancements, 
     mentoring and recruitment capacities, ability to 
     conceptualize novel ideas and service in numerous 
     administrative roles, she has forever changed traditional 
     approaches to breast cancer science. In addition to fostering 
     research in many areas, Helene was particularly important as 
     a mentor for young scientists--particularly women. These 
     contributions, in addition to her easy smile and invigorating 
     personality will be sorely missed and not easily 
     forgotten.

                          ____________________