UAMS’ Emanuel, Dean Honored by Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
| June 7, 2018 | Two UAMS professionals dedicated to the care of patients with blood cancers were recently honored by the Arkansas division of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).
Peter Emanuel, M.D., director of the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, and Harold Dean, L.C.S.W., O.S.W.-C., clinical social work program manager of the UAMS Myeloma Institute, each received the organization’s Legacy Leadership Award.
According to LLS, the award recognizes individuals who have a vision for a world without blood cancers and honors their ongoing passion and dedication for the people of Arkansas.
Emanuel has served as director of the UAMS Cancer Institute since 2007. He also is professor of medicine in the UAMS College of Medicine Department of Hematology and holds the Kent C. Westbrook, M.D. Endowed Director’s Chair.
In addition to overseeing the administrative function of the UAMS Cancer Institute, Emanuel treats patients with blood cancers and is internationally recognized for his research investigating a rare cancer called juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML). In 1991, his research team published a manuscript in the prestigious academic journal Blood that resulted in improved diagnosis methods for children with JMML.
His interest in developing new therapies for children with JMML led him to serve as co-leader of a phase 2/phase 3 cooperative group clinical trial through the National Cancer Institute-supported Children’s Oncology Group, the world’s largest organization devoted exclusively to childhood and adolescent cancer research.
Emanuel has served as principal investigator on numerous industry-sponsored and National Cancer Institute grants. His total NCI funding exceeds $3.6 million, including the establishment of a JMML cell and tissue repository that many researchers access for their studies.
He is an author of 77 peer-reviewed manuscripts and more than 80 research abstracts and presentations. Emanuel is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, serves on the board of the American Association of Cancer Institutes, and is an active member of the American Society of Hematology and American Association for Cancer Research, among other organizations.
He has been named consecutively to The Best Doctors in America since 2001; Castle Connolly’s America’s Top Doctors for Cancer since 2005; and Castle Connolly’s America’s Top Doctors since 2009.
Dean has worked in the field of oncology social work for more than 26 years, is a licensed clinical social worker and holds an oncology social work certification through the Board of Oncology Social Work.
Since 2010, Dean has served as co-facilitator for the Little Rock Blood Cancer Support Group, which meets monthly at the American Cancer Society. He has been a Master of Social Work field instructor since 1990 and a field liaison for his alma mater, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Social Work, since 2000.
Former Gov. Mike Beebe appointed Dean to the Arkansas Social Work Licensing Board in 2013, and he served as board chairman from 2014-2017. In 2015, he was appointed to the Association of Social Work Board’s License Mobility Task Force and was elected to their board in 2016, where he sits on the Regulatory Education and Leadership Committee and Continuing Competency Committee.
Dean is a member of the Association of Oncology Social Work and an active volunteer with the American Cancer Society and Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.