Harold P. Freeman, M.D., is an Associate Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Director of the NCI Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Freeman is also the Medical Director of the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention in New York City, New York. He holds the academic rank of Professor of Clinical Surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. For 25 years (1974-1999), Dr. Freeman was the Director of Surgery at Harlem Hospital, and for a 2-year period ending in 2001, he served as President and CEO of North General Hospital in New York City.
Dr. Freeman is currently a Diplomat of the American Board of Surgery and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He has been Medical Director of the Breast Examination Center of Harlem, a program of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, since 1979. Previously, he served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons, on the Executive Council of the Society of Surgical Oncology, as Chair of the Surgical Section of the National Medical Association, and as a member of the Ethics Committee of the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Freeman is past Chair of the New York State Commission for a Healthy New York and past Chair of the New York State Breast Cancer Treatment Quality Advisory Panel. In addition, Dr. Freeman has been a consultant to the National Cancer Institute on numerous occasions, including 6 years as a member of the NCI Breast Cancer Task Force. He is currently a Fellow of the American Surgical Association. Dr. Freeman was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1997.
Dr. Freeman has been actively involved with the American Cancer Society for many years and has served as its National President (1988-1989). He is the chief architect of the American Cancer Society's initiative on Cancer in the Poor and is a leading authority on the interrelationships among race, poverty, and cancer. The Society established the Harold P. Freeman Award in 1990 to recognize his work in this area. This award is given annually to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the fight against cancer in the poor.
Dr. Freeman pioneered the Patient Navigation Program, which addresses disparities in access to treatment, particularly among the poor and uninsured. This program is designed to assist medically underserved patients in navigating their way through a complex health system by overcoming traditional access barriers to timely diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The success of the Patient Navigation Program has received national attention from Congress and has led other health care organizations to adopt similar programs.
The U.S. Government has also called upon Dr. Freeman's expertise. He is past Chair of the President's Cancer Panel, a position to which he was appointed for four 3-year terms, first by President Bush in 1991 and, subsequently, by President Clinton in 1994, 1997, and 2000.
Dr. Freeman has been awarded honorary Doctor of Science Degrees from Albany Medical College, Niagara University, Adelphi University, and The Catholic University of America. He was also awarded the University of California at San Francisco Medal, the Mary Lasker Award for Public Service, Time, Inc.'s Health Lifetime Achievement Award, The American Cancer Society Medal of Honor, the 2001 Champion of Prevention Award from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the 2002 Breast Cancer Research Foundation Jill Rose Award, and the 2003 Special Recognition Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Dr. Freeman earned his undergraduate degree from The Catholic University of America and his M.D. degree at Howard University.
