Michael Retsky
Hon Assoc Prof, University College London, UK
Biography
Michael Retsky received PhD in experimental physics from University of Chicago in 1974. While working at Hewlett-Packard in Colorado Springs in 1982, a friend started an informal cancer research project since his wife was being treated for cancer. Over the next years, Retsky made a career change into cancer research. His first paper in oncology (Cancer Research 1984) predicted that tumor growth included periods of dormancy. He eventually became Prof of Biology at Univ of Colorado and later on staff of Judah Folkman at Harvard.
Retsky was diagnosed with Stage IIIc colon cancer in 1994. Based on his knowledge of tumor kinetics he used low-dose, long-term chemotherapy instead of maximum tolerated chemotherapy. This became the first use of metronomic chemotherapy.