Harold P. Freeman, M.D.
Senior Advisor to the Director, National Cancer Institute
President, Founder, and Medical Director, Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention

Harold P. Freeman, M.D., is senior advisor to the director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Bethesda, Maryland.  He is directly responsible for strategies to achieve NCI’s 2015 goal to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer in minority and underserved communities. Dr. Freeman is also president, founder, and medical director of the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention in New York, New York. He is a professor of clinical surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, also in New York. For twenty five years (1974–1999), Dr. Freeman was director of surgery at Harlem Hospital in New York and, for a two year period ending in 2001, Dr. Freeman served as the president and CEO of North General Hospital in New York. 

Dr. Freeman currently is a diplomat of the American Board of Surgery and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He has been medical director of the Breast Examination Center of Harlem, a program of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, since 1979. Previously, he served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons, on the Executive Council of the Society of Surgical Oncology, as chairman of the Surgical Section of the National Medical Association, and as a member of the Ethics Committee of the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Freeman is past chairman of the New York State Commission for a Healthy New York and past chairman of the New York State Breast Cancer Treatment Quality Advisory Panel. Dr. Freeman was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1997.

Dr. Freeman has been actively involved with the American Cancer Society for many years, and from 1988-89 he served as its national president. He is the chief architect of the American Cancer Society’s initiative on Cancer in the Poor and is a leading authority on the interrelationships between race, poverty, and cancer. The Society established the “Harold P. Freeman Award” in 1990 to recognize his work in this area. This award is presented annually by American Cancer Society divisions throughout the U.S. to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the fight against cancer in the poor. 

Dr. Freeman pioneered the “Patient Navigation Program” which addresses disparities in access to treatment, particularly among poor and uninsured people. This program is designed to assist medically underserved patients in navigating their way through a complex health system by overcoming barriers to timely diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The success of Dr. Freeman’s “Patient Navigation Program” has led many other health care organizations to adopt similar initiatives.  Based on this model the Patient Navigator and Chronic Disease Prevention Act was signed into law by President Bush in June 2005.

Dr. Freeman is past chairman of the President’s Cancer Panel, to which he was appointed for four consecutive three-year terms, first by President Bush in 1991 and subsequently by President Clinton in 1994, 1997 and 2000. 

As a graduate of Catholic University of America, Dr. Freeman received the Harris Award for “Outstanding Scholar, Gentleman, and Athlete.” He later was recognized as “Outstanding Alumnus in the Medical Arts” at Catholic University and was inducted into the Athlete’s Hall of Fame of the University. Additionally, he received the Daniel Hale Williams Award for Outstanding Achievements as Chief Resident while in medical school at Howard University. 

Honorary Doctor of Science degrees have been awarded to Dr. Freeman from Albany Medical College, Niagara University, Adelphi University, and Catholic University of America. He was also awarded the University of California at San Francisco Medal. Dr. Freeman’s work has earned him several awards, including the Mary Lasker Award for Public Service; the Time, Inc. Health International Health and Medical Media Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award; the American Cancer Society’s Medal of Honor; the CDC Foundation’s Champion of Prevention Award; the Breast Cancer Research Foundation’s “Jill Rose Award,” the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Special Recognition Award; the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer National Foundation’s Champion of Change Award; the International Spirit of Life Foundation and the Washington Cancer Institute’s Spirit of Life Award; the Mayo Clinic Charles G. Moertel Memorial Lectureship Award; the Association of Community Cancer Centers’ Achievement Award; the George Washington University Cancer Institute’s Distinguished Public Service Award and the 2006 Black History Makers Awards of The Associated Black Charities.