Edith A. Perez, MD
Hematologist/Oncologist, Researcher, Professor of Medicine Mayo Clinic
Edith A. Perez, M.D., hematologist/oncologist, is director of the Breast Cancer Program in the Division of Hematology/Oncology and director of the Cancer Clinical Study Unit at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. She is a professor of medicine at Mayo Medical School and chair of the Breast Cancer Committee of North Central Cancer Treatment Group.
Dr. Perez has developed and is involved in a wide range of clinical trials exploring the use of new therapeutic agents for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer. She also has recently developed studies to evaluate the role of genetic markers in the development and aggressiveness of breast cancer.
In 2005, Dr. Perez chaired an internationally known breast cancer clinical trial whose findings confirmed a potent weapon against the recurrence of cancer cells. Results showed that risk of recurrence was reduced by 52 percent in patients with HER-2 positive invasive breast cancer who received trastuzumab (Herceptin) combined with chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy alone.
Dr. Perez serves on the Mayo Clinic Women’s Cancer Program Steering Committee, co-chairs the Health Disparities Committee and is a member of the Nominating and Program Committees of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). She’s also a member of the Clinical Research Awards Committee and Scientific Program Committee of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). She has several ties to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which include being a member of the Breast Cancer Intergroup Correlative Science Committee, as well as a member of the Clinical Trials Working Group and NCI’s Board of Scientific Advisors.
She has been a member of Mayo Clinic’s Institutional Review Board and the NCI-Central Institutional Review Board. Over the past decade, Dr. Perez has been actively involved in related activities of NCI and National Institutes of Health. Dr. Perez is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and an active member of ASCO, AACR and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Perez participates on the editorial board of several journals, and has authored more than 150 research articles in journals and books. She is a lecturer at numerous national and international meetings each year.
A recipient of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation Research Grant Award (1998-2006), she also has received the 2002 Horizon Achievement Award in Cancer Research presented by Bristol-Myers Squibb Oncology and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. In addition, Dr. Perez has received the 2003 North Florida Hispanic of the Year Award, presented by Hispanics Achieving Community Excellence at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. She also was awarded the Serene M. and Frances C. Durling Professorship by Mayo Clinic in 2006.
Dr. Perez earned her medical degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine in San Juan and completed her residency in internal medicine at the Loma Linda University Medical Center in California. She served as general internist in the Division of National Health Services Corps, Los Angeles, and as a fellow in Hematology/Oncology at Martinez Veterans’ Administration Medical Center at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine. Dr. Perez is board certified in internal medicine, internal medicine – medical oncology and internal medicine – hematology.
