Nathan A. Berger, MD, founding director of what is now the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio, and a member of the AACR since 1978, died June 14, 2024. He was 83.
Berger earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Temple University in Philadelphia in 1962 and his medical degree from the Drexel University College of Medicine/Hahnemann University in Philadelphia 1966. He had a residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis in 1968 and served fellowships at the NHI in 1971 and Washington University in 1973.
Berger joined CWRU as director of the hematology/oncology division of the School of Medicine in 1983. He was the first director of the CWRU/Ireland Cancer Center, which was designated as a Clinical Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute in 1987 and was designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center in 1998.
Berger served as dean of the School of Medicine from 1995 to 2002, and then became the first director of the Case Center for Science, Health and Society. He also served as editor of a series of books from Springer on energy balance and cancer.
During his tenure at CWRU, Berger launched a Scientific Enrichment Opportunity program to encourage high school students, especially those from underrepresented groups, to engage in laboratory research. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, he also created a Youth Enjoy Science (YES) program. These programs attracted 80 to 100 students from the greater Cleveland area to the campus each summer. He received a lifetime achievement award from the School of Medicine in 2022.
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