Former NIMHD Division of Intramural Research Clinical Director Dr. Eddie Reed Honored
Dr. Eddie Reed
Dr. Eddie Reed, the first Clinical Director for the Division of Intramural Research at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the first African American to serve as Branch Chief at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), was inducted into the 2015 Arkansas Black Hall of Fame, posthumously, on October 17, 2015, at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, Ark.
"Eddie was a unique individual, the likes of which you rarely come across in a lifetime," said Dr. Kevin Gardner, NIMHD Acting Scientific Director, Division of Intramural Research, who attended the ceremony with other NIH colleagues, family, and friends of Reed in his home state. "He was a gifted physician, an astute and perceptive scientist, and a passionate medical oncologist who became an unrelenting warrior determined to end the pain and suffering from cancer. As a generous but firm teacher and mentor, Eddie demanded the best from himself and those with whom he worked. He was a saber rattler, a truth teller, and a steadfast friend."
Reed held many prominent positions throughout his career. He was Chief of the Clinical Pharmacology Branch and Chief of the Ovarian Cancer and Metastatic Prostate Cancer Clinic at NCI; Director of the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center at West Virginia University, Morgantown; Director of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga.; and Clinical Director of the University of South Alabama Mitchell Cancer Institute in Mobile. Reed returned to NIH in 2013 to become the founding Clinical Director of the Division of Intramural Research for the NIMHD. He held this position until his untimely passing from an aggressive hepatocellular carcinoma on May 28, 2014.
From left to right: Elaine Gavin, Dr. Reed’s laboratory technician from the Mitchell Cancer Institute (Mobile, Ala.); Dr. Meenakshi Reed, Dr. Reed’s wife; and Dr. Lauren Amable, Dr. Reed’s Staff Scientist at NIMHD
A prolific and world-renowned cancer researcher, Reed pioneered the combinatorial use of Cisplatin and Taxol in the treatment of ovarian cancer. He is the author of more than 300 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and editorials and his work has been cited by more than 10,000 publications in science and medicine.
"His untimely death was a tragic loss to the NIMHD family," said Gardner. "As the intramural research program begins to grow and thrive, we shall never forget his legacy and that we will forever stand on the shoulders of this true giant."
