ONCOLOGY Remembers Dr Franco Muggia

very step of the editorial process on the journal ONCOLOGY®—including conceptualization, manuscript drafting, an arduous review processes, and final approval—is completed with the oversight of the publication’s editorial advisory board of research pioneers and industry thought leaders.

In September 2021, the board lost one of its leading members, Franco Muggia, MD, who was a fixture at New York University (NYU) Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center and a leader in the study and treatment of patients with gynecologic cancers. He was 85.

Over a career lasting more than 50 years, Dr Muggia had a hand in developing important chemotherapeutic drugs, including bleomycin, nitrosoureas, taxanes, and his key area of interest, platinum compounds. During his time as associate director of the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program at the National Cancer Institute, he played a crucial role in getting these agents incorporated into the standard of care for clinical practice and coordinated the early clinical development of chemotherapy for patients with leukemia and lymphoma, and breast, lung, ovarian, testicular, and gastrointestinal cancers.

Throughout his career, Dr Muggia was recognized as a worldwide thought leader in ovarian cancer therapeutics and played a leading role in the formation of the Gynecologic Oncology Group. He also helped found the New York Gynecologic Oncology Group and the New York Phase 1 Trials Group. In recent years, he led the Chemotherapy Foundation and helped to organize its annual meeting, the Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium, a program organized by Physicians’ Education Resource®, LLC.

Dr Muggia joined NYU School of Medicine in 1979 as professor of medicine and director of the Division of Medical Oncology. In 1986, he moved to the University of Southern California-Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and continued his work optimizing intraperitoneal platinum and liposomal doxorubicin therapies for patients with ovarian cancer. He returned to NYU as director of the former Kaplan Cancer Center at NYU Medical Center from 1996 to 1997, before serving as director of the Division of Medical Oncology at NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center until 2009.

After stepping down as division chief, he served as a senior faculty member and continued his commitment to clinical care, research, and educating the next generation of physician-scientists. The treatment landscape would not be the same without his contribution and he will be truly missed by his patients and colleagues alike.