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Dr. Otis BrawleyDR. OTIS BRAWLEY Otis Webb Brawley, M.D., is the chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, which means he's responsible for promoting the goals of cancer prevention, early detection, and high-quality treatment through cancer research and education. A world-renowned cancer expert and practicing oncologist, Brawley also has been a professor of hematology, oncology, and epidemiology at Emory University, medical director of the Georgia Cancer Center for Excellence at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, and deputy director for cancer control at Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University. He has also held other roles with the cancer society, co-chaired the Surgeon General's Task Force on Cancer Health Disparities and filled a variety of capacities at the National Cancer Institute.

Brawley, a self-described "science nerd," says he gravitated toward research as a way of mixing the clinical practice of medicine with pure science. He traces his passion to his teenage years, when he volunteered in the lab of the Veterans Administration Hospital in Detroit, near his hometown. The scientists there taught him to use sophisticated equipment and how to help them with their work. "That's where I got the research bug," the doctor says.

He's a graduate of University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He interned at University Hospital of Cleveland, Case-Western Reserve University and completed his residency at University Hospital of Cleveland and his fellowship at the National Cancer Institute.

In his work with the cancer society, he champions efforts to decrease smoking, improve diet, detect cancer at the earliest stage and provide the critical support cancer patients need. He also guides efforts to enhance and focus the research program, upgrade the society's advocacy capacity, and concentrate community cancer control efforts in areas where they will be most effective. Brawley is also a key leader in the society's work to eliminate disparities in access to high-quality cancer care.

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