Bernard Fisher

Who is Bernard Fisher?

Bernard Fisher, MD, FACS, is an American scientist and a pioneer in the biology and treatment of breast cancer. He is a native of Pittsburgh. He was Chairman of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast Project at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. His work established definitively that early-stage breast cancer could be more effectively treated by lumpectomy, in combination with radiationtherapy, chemotherapy, and/or hormonal therapy, than by radical mastectomy.

The oncology journal The ASCO Post described Fisher's research as “groundbreaking,” noting that it “ultimately ended the standard practice of performing the Halsted radical mastectomy, a treatment that had been in place for more than 75 years.” Thanks to Fisher, notes another major oncology journal, breast-cancer survival rates have improved worldwide.

Fisher has been described as “an iconoclastic figure” who brought about “far reaching changes...in the understanding of cancer and its treatment.” The Atlantic Monthly has called him “a medical hero.”