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2025 SEVEN BLOCKS OF GRANITE CHAMPION
EUGENIE S. KLEINERMAN, M.D.
Eugenie S. Kleinerman, M.D., professor of Pediatrics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, is an internationally renowned pediatric oncologist and physician scientist who has made seminal contributions to the understanding and treatment of osteosarcoma (OS) and Ewing sarcoma. She is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and Duke Medical School, who then completed her pediatric residency at Children’s National Medical Center and fellowship at the National Cancer Institute. She holds the Mary V. and John A. Reilly Distinguished Chair.
Dr. Kleinerman served as chair of Pediatrics from 2001 to 2015, the first woman to lead a clinical division at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her 40-year career has focused on developing new therapeutic strategies for children and adolescents with osteosarcoma. She pioneered the use of the immunotherapy MEPACT, which significantly improved the survival of OS patients with lung metastases and produced a 30% reduction in mortality at 8 years in newly diagnosed patients. MEPACT was approved by the European Medicine Agency in 2010 and is now used in numerous countries around the
world. Dr. Kleinerman’s preclinical research also demonstrated the efficacy of aerosol gene and aerosol chemotherapy against OS lung metastases, leading to several clinical trials. Her newest areas of research are finding an intervention to prevent cardiac damage caused by chemotherapy, and developing a dendritic cell vaccine for patients with metastatic sarcoma.
She is a passionate advocate for the special needs of children and adolescents with cancer. As chair of Pediatrics, Dr. Kleinerman oversaw the creation of a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, the accreditation of an in-hospital school, and the opening of Kim’s Place, an activity center for adolescents and young adults. She has served on numerous NIH study sections, an FDA Advisory Panel, the CPRIT Advisory Committee on Childhood Cancers, and trained more than 50 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Dr. Kleinerman is the author of more than 250 articles, 26 book chapters, and served as editor for three books. She has received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Medical Alumnus Award from Duke University; MD Anderson’s Faculty Achievement Award in Clinical Research; the Distinguished Alumni Award from Washington University; Sarcoma Foundation’s Nobility in Science Award; Fellow of the Amerian Association for the Advancement of Science; and the Nollenburg Award from the International Society for Pediatric Oncology.
For the duration of her academic career Dr. Kleinerman has remained devoted to her family—her loving husband, Dr. Lenard Zwelling, sons Andrew and Richard, and grandsons David and Benjamin.
