Gordon H TheilenGordon Theilen, DVM, DACVIM-Oncology, is one among a handful of internationally renowned veterinary comparative scientists who founded the discipline of veterinary oncology in the 1960s. He coauthored the first comprehensive veterinary oncology refernce texts, Veterinary Cancer Medicine. The first volume was translated into Japanese. Noted for his stubborn refusal to concede to the ravages of cancer in animals, Dr. Theilen provided comprehensive information helping conquer neoplastic diseases in humans. He was a leader in combination cancer treatment, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy. A professor at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine for 37 years, Dr. Theilen did basic research on cancer-causing viruses in horses, turkeys, cows, cats, and primates. In 1965 he identified and named stem cell sarcoma in turkeys, Reticuloendotheliosis. In 1969, he co-discovered Synder-Theilen Feline Sarcoma Virus (ST-FeSV), and he discovered the first and only Simian Sarcoma Virus, SSV-1 (WMSV), in 1971. This discovery led to recognition on the cover of Cancer Research, volume 42, August 1982, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. In 1964-65, Dr. Theilen served a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, in the laboratory of Ray C. Bryan, and in 1972-73 he was a fellow at the Royal Marsden Hospital, Chester Beatty Institute in London at Peter Alexander's lab. In 1979-80 he was an Alexander von Humboldt Research Institute senior scientist at the School of Medicine's Department of Virology, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany, in Heinz Bauer's lab. He also worked in veterinary pathology there with Eugene Weiss.. He visited other countries to help veterinarians and physicians understand cancer-causing retroviral infections. He was nominated by Ernest Head and honored to give the annual pathology lecture for the schools of medicine and veterinary medicine at the University of Edinburgh. Theilen waged a one-medicine war on cancer, and was honored by UC Davis on his 80th birthday with the Theilen Tribute Symposium in recognition of 50 years of cancer research. Scientific papers were presented by leading cancer researchers. His students - interns, residents, fellows and postdocs - have spanned the world with their influence and leadership affecting many other related areas of veterinary and human comparative medicine. Dr. Theilen was awarded University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine outstanding Alumni Achievement Award in 1987. He was active in several professional associations appointed Honor Roll Member of the American Associations of Veterinary Medicine, in 1999. A charter member of the Veterinary Cancer Society and, Charter Member of American College of Internal Medicine-Oncology. He helped organize, and was a charter member of the International Association for Comparative Research on Leukemia and Related Diseases (ACRLRD) in 1962, and served as a world committee member from 1969 to 1974. He served on Scientific Review Committee of Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in America from 1970 to 1975. He chaired the Annual Scientific and Membership Meeting in San Francisco in 1973. He was a member of the WHO Committee, Staging Tumors in Animals from 1972 to 1978, which consisted of five other international leaders. He has been a member of American Association for Cancer Research since 1960, the Society of Phi Zeta since 1958, and the Society of Sigma Xi since 1960. His life of achievements discovering and describing biological phenomena fullfilled a philosophy, "The mother of creativity is action with devine guidance." Read More Read Less