(Health & Fitness
PROFILE
Dr. Forman — a
radiation oncologist
Cancer Fighter
TomoTherapy Hi-Art provider explains
safety behind this advanced technology.
Ilene Wolff
Special to the Jewish News
A
lthough Dr. Jeffrey Forman
makes his living treating
prostate cancer, his personal
mission is to help men understand that
research has shown an effective way to
prevent it.
He cites a National Cancer Institute-
sponsored study of 19,000 men that
overwhelmingly found almost one-third
of the participants were cancer-free after
taking the drug finasteride. Forman will
hold a series of seminars on the topic in
2010.
"As a doctor, it's important to me to try
to keep people healthy:' said the radiation
oncologist. "But if the diagnosis is cancer,
there are new treatments available to
precisely target tumors without hurting
healthy tissue."
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March 4 • 2010
One advanced tool is TomoTherapy
Hi-Art, a treatment so precise that
medical teams can treat a lung's lining
and not the lung itself. Forman, direc-
tor of the Michigan Region for 21st
Century Oncology, is the only provider of
TomoTherapy in Oakland County, at loca-
tions in Pontiac and Clarkston.
TomoTherapy, he says, is not only
sophisticated technology that provides
effective doses of radiation, it is also
safer. That's because medical profession-
als know exactly where a tumor is from
a daily CT scan before treatment. As an
added feature, 21st Century now uses
GPS to track the tumor's location, the
latest technology to make radiation treat-
ment safer.
"While radiation is an effective cancer
treatment, it sometimes carries with it
undesirable side effects:' Forman said.
"TomoTherapy helps to reduce or elimi-
nate those side effects by restricting the
radiation to the tumor and avoiding
nearby tissue and vital organs. So our
patients get good cancer control and can
carry on with their lives as quickly as
possible:'
Cancers that can be treated with
TomoTherapy include lung, breast, pros-
tate, pancreas and head and neck tumors.
Tumors that were treated with external-
beam radiation can also be treated with
TomoTherapy.
Forman was director of the Karmanos
Cancer Institute's Lawrence and Idell
Weisberg Cancer Center in Farmington
Hills before moving to 21st Century
Oncology in 2007. He has addressed
audiences at medical conferences world-
wide and helped write official guidelines
for doctors to follow in treating prostate
cancer. Throughout his career, Forman
has secured millions of dollars in fund-
ing for cancer research.
He's leading the effort to establish
a cancer center and program at the
HaEmek Medical Center in Afula, Israel
after a recent visit while on vacation.
Forman feels a special affinity for the
hospital because one of his best friends
was born there and a friend's daughter
underwent an emergency appendectomy
there while on vacation.
This New York native came to Michigan
in 1988 after completing his intern-
ship, residency and fellowship at Johns
Hopkins Hospital. He previously chaired
the Department of Radiation Oncology at
Wayne State University and remains on
its faculty.
He's also been on the faculty of the
University of Michigan, Memorial Sloan-
Kettering Cancer Center (New York, N.Y.)
and Cornell University Medical College
(Ithaca, N.Y.)
Forman has received the Jewish
National Foundation Tree of Life Award
and the Israeli Cancer Association Award.
He and his wife, Miriam, live in
Bloomfield Hills. The Formans have
three children: Tara, who is in graduate
school pursuing a social work degree at
Columbia University; Adam, a Wayne State
University School of Medicine student
who graduates this year and intends to
be a radiation oncologist like his father;
and Joshua, who attends Duke University,
majoring in political science.
❑
Call (248) 338-0300 to learn more about
Dr. Forman's upcoming seminars on pros-
tate cancer.
Ilene Wolff writes for Tschetter & Associates,
a Clarkston-based public relations firm.
Name: Jeffrey
Forman, M.D.,
FACR
Residence:
Bloomfield Hills
Family: Wife,
Miriam; three
children: Adam,
26, Tara, 23 and
Joshua, 20
Synagogue: Temple Israel, West
Bloomfield
Community Involvement: Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit,
AIPAC
Education: New York University
School of Medicine
Postgraduate: Johns Hopkins
Hospital, Baltimore
Next Vacation: Cambodia and
Vietnam