Angela Hartley Brodie

Angela Hartley Brodie (born 28 September 1934) is a British cancer researcher who pioneered development of steroidal aromatase inhibitors. Born in Manchester in 1934, Brodie went on to study chemical pathology to a doctoral level and was awarded a fellowship sponsored by National Institutes of Health. After some time working on oral contraceptives with the Harry Brodie, whom she married, she switched focus to the effects of the estrogen-producing enzyme, aromatase, on breast cancer.

Brodie managed to get an aromatase inhibitor into a limited clinical trial in London, which had such a profound effect that it led to Novartis-sponsored trials. She was behind the development of formestane, the first aromatase inhibitor used on breast cancer patients, marketed in 1994. Brodie's work has been hailed "as among the most important contributions to cancer cure."

Biography

Brodie was born Angela Hartley on 28 September 1934^[1] in Manchester, England. Her father, Herbert Hartley, was an organic chemist working in polyurethanes^[2] who inspired her interest in science.^[3] Brodie was educated at a Quaker boarding school before studying at University of Sheffield, where she earned a degree in Biochemistry.^[3] After leaving university, she took a job in a blood bank before finding a laboratory position as a research assistant in Department of Hormone Research at Manchester's Christie Cancer Hospital^[4][5] Whilst there, she concentrated on estrogen-dependent breast cancer for two years before joining the University of Manchester to study for her doctorate.^[3]

Brodie's Ph.D. in chemical pathology,^[6] which she received in 1961 from University of Manchester,^[7] focussed primarily on the hormone aldosterone.^[3]

As a result of her doctorate, she was awarded a National Institutes of Health sponsored, 1-year post-doctoral training fellowship, at Clark University and the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.^[6][8] She researched at Worcester Foundation between 1962^[3] and 1979.^[6]

There, she worked initially on the oral contraceptive usage of aldosterone, alongside a number of scientists including Dr. Harry Brodie, who Angela Brodie lmarried, and Dr. Mika Hayano,^[3] who died of breast cancer in her 40s. Over the next few years, Brodie took time away from her work when her two children, Mark and John Hartley Brodie were born.^[3]

When Brodie returned to work in 1971 she joined her husband's lab as staff scientist, moving her switch focus to breast cancer research, especially its link with estrogen and an enzyme that produces it, aromatase.^[3] and focusing on developing 4-OHA,^[4] a potent steroidal aromatase inhibitor, and testing it through clinical trials.^[3] 4-OHA, named Formestane, was the first aromatase inhibitor used on breast cancer patients^[9] and proved to be a significant improvement on tamoxifen, the standard cancer drug used to treat estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer in postmenopausal women.^[10] The drug was first marketed in 1994.^[5]

In 1979, encouraged by Cornelia Channing, she joined the University of Maryland School of Medicine, firstly as an associate professor^[8] and then later as Professor of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics along with an appointment in the Department of Physiology^[10] and a researcher role in the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center.^[10] She presented a paper on her aromatase inhibitors at a Rome conference in 1980, which led to collaboration with Charles Coombes, a British oncologist to start clinical trials on the inhibitor–4-hydroxyandrostenedione (4-OHA) in Royal Marsden Hospital.^[3] Coombes gave 4-OHA to 11 women in 1982,^[5] with 4 seeing a dramatic improvement. The results were encouraging enough that Novartis was willing to fund further clinical trials.^[3]

Brodie received the prestigious Kettering Prize in 2005, the first woman to receive the award,^[8] though she didn't know she had been nominated^[3] At the time, she was on the editorial board of multiple professional journals, reviewed grant applications for NIH^[8] and was a member of the integration for the U.S. Army Department of Defense Army Breast Cancer Program.^[6] In 2006, her son John, died from accidental drowning.^[12] To date, Brodie has published over 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals.^[10]

Awards

• 1998 Pharmacia and Upjohn International Award for Excellence in Published Clinical Research ^[7]
• 2000 Komen Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction from Susan G. Komen for the Cure^[7][13]
• 2005 Charles F. Kettering Prize from the General Motors Cancer Research Awards^[10][14]
• 2006 Dorothy P. Landon-American Association for Cancer Research Prize for Translational Cancer Research^[8][10][15]
• 2006 Health Care Heroes Award sponsored by The Daily Record newspaper.^[16]
• 2007 University of Massachusetts Medical School presented Gregory Pincus Medal^[17]
• 2010 Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine^[8]
• 2010 Jill Rose Award for Distinguished Scientific Achievement^[18][19]
• 2012 Pharmacia-ASPET Award for Experimental Therapeutics^[6]
• 2013 Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy^[20][21]

References

External links

• An Interview with Dr. Angela Brodie