Event: Academic Events
Allen R. Tannenbaum: a mathematician’s contributions to the fight against cancer
The speakers will include:
- Larry Norton, MD, MSKCC
- Joseph O. Deasy, PhD, MSKCC
- Rena Elkin, PhD, MSKC
- Jung Hun Oh, PhD, MSKCC
- Tryphon T. Georgiou, PhD, University of California, Irvine
- Helene Benveniste, MD, PhD, Yale Medical School
- Rina Tannenbaum, PhD, Stony Brook University
Allen Robert Tannenbaum, PhD (1953-2023) was a distinguished applied mathematician who contributed to many areas of mathematics and science. He devoted much of his later years to cancer research while he was a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics & Statistics at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and an Affiliate Attending Computer Scientist at MSK. He co-led the Mathematical Oncology Initiative at MSK, funded by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the Simons Foundation. In collaboration with physicians, biologists, and physicists, Allen introduced a profoundly original and productive point of view regarding how complex networks of genes in cancer could be analyzed computationally using optimal mass transport theory. Allen also developed related mathematics to improve the quantification of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI images. His life and work were tragically cut short by cancer in 2023.
Allen’s work paved the way for new avenues in cancer research and treatment strategies. This memorial symposium dedicated to Allen’s legacy will include presentations by colleagues and former trainees, focusing on the lasting impact of his pioneering techniques and translational findings in the fight against cancer and other areas of medicine.