University Times

Norman Wolmark, who left Pitt last year after a bitter dispute with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center administrators, has been named by the executive committee of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) to replace Bernard Fisher as NSABP chairperson.

Wolmark, 48, currently is director of the Allegheny Cancer Center and director of surgical oncology at Allegheny General Hospital. His nomination as NSABP chairperson must be approved by the National Cancer Institute.

Wolmark participated in NSABP research when he was surgeon-in-chief at Montefiore University Hospital and a tenured professor of surgery in Pitt's medical school. Wolmark left Pitt in November 1993, claiming that University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) officials violated his rights as a tenured faculty member, undercut his authority at Montefiore and confiscated millions of dollars of external funding from his research team when Pitt took over Montefiore.

UPMC administrators said Wolmark voluntarily resigned after breaking off contract settlement negotiations. They denied refusing Wolmark and his colleagues access to their research monies.

While the National Cancer Institute considers whom it will name to chair NSABP, lawyers representing former chairperson Bernard Fisher continue to meet with University lawyers to discuss a possible settlement of a lawsuit that Fisher filed against Pitt in July.

Fisher is seeking to get his job back as NSABP chairperson. He maintains that the University had no right to fire him because NSABP is an independent organization.

Pitt's administration says that Fisher resigned March 29 after the National Cancer Institute ordered the University to remove him as head of NSABP. Fisher's removal followed reports that a Montreal researcher's falsified data were included in some NSABP studies.

The administration maintains that Fisher has no contractual or legal entitlement to control of NSABP research projects. Such projects belong to Pitt because the University is the official administrator of NSABP and is the recipient of the federal funds to conduct NSABP research, the administration says.

NSABP is the nation's largest breast cancer study group. It is composed of some 5,000 doctors overseeing clinical trials that involve nearly 5,000 women.

— Bruce Steele