Janet Wolter, MD, Brian Piccolo chair of Cancer Research and professor of medicine, retired in November, at the age of 83. During her 46 years at Rush, Wolter made important contributions to advances in cancer care and provided hope to thousands of breast cancer patients. In celebration of her legacy and her contributions, Rush will name a conference space in its new outpatient cancer center for Wolter, a fitting tribute to a pillar of cancer care and education at Rush.

Wolter’s Legacy at Rush
Wolter received her medical degree in 1950 from the University of Illinois College of Medicine before training at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Duke University Hospital, the University of Illinois Research and Education Hospital and Presbyterian Hospital. She was briefly a faculty member at the University of Illinois before joining the faculty of Rush’s predecessor hospital Presbyterian-St. Luke’s in 1963 to collaborate with pioneering physician Samuel G. Taylor III, MD, in his work treating cancer patients with hormones and chemotherapy.

During the course of her career at Rush, Wolter was instrumental in Rush’s opening the first comprehensive breast center in the Midwest. She also served as principal investigator for the Rush arm of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Program – a National Cancer Institute-supported cooperative group of researchers conducing clinical trials of cancer treatments. True to her collaborative working style, Wolter was among the first physicians in the nation to train nurse specialists in oncology to work in tandem with oncologists.

“She served as a role model, especially for many women physicians, and also for me and many other oncologists who trained at Rush,” says Philip Bonomi, MD, Alice Pirie Wirtz professor of medical oncology and director of hematology-oncology at Rush, who trained with Wolter as an oncology fellow from 1975 to 1977.

Join Rush’s Tribute to Wolter

In tribute to Wolter, Rush will create the Janet Wolter, MD, Clinical and Educational Conference Room, a state-of-the-art teaching center to be built in Rush’s new Outpatient Cancer Center. Scheduled to open on the tenth floor of the Professional Building in early 2011, the Outpatient Cancer Center will place the majority of Rush’s cancer treatment services and care providers side by side in a single location, reducing the strain on patients and facilitating close collaboration among caregivers — a key element of optimal care.

Rush is accepting tribute gifts in support of the new Janet Wolter, MD, Clinical and Educational Conference Room. Make a tribute gift to the Outpatient Cancer Center’s Wolter conference space online at http://www.rush.edu/giveonline. (Please specify that your gift is in tribute to Wolter and should be directed toward cancer.)

For more information about making a gift, contact MaryPat Mauro at (312) 942-7165.