ANSWERS
08/03/1996

<TITLE> FDA Names New Director For Cancer Drugs Division</TITLE>
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T96-54                                  Susan Cruzan
August 2, 1996                          (301) 443-3285


        FDA Names New Director For Cancer Drugs Division
     Robert DeLap, M.D., Ph.D. has been named Director of the
Division of Oncology Drug Products, Center for Drug Evaluation
and Research for the Food and Drug Administration.  This review
division has primary responsibility for evaluating the safety and
effectiveness of new cancer drug treatments.    
     Dr. DeLap joined FDA as a Medical Officer in l993, and has
served as Acting Division Director since October l995.  He was
named Division Director on June 9, l996.  
       Dr. DeLap's work with the division coincides with FDA's
recent cancer initiatives to speed cancer drug development and
approvals.  Under these initiatives, Dr. DeLap and his staff will
continue to work closely with the patient advocacy community,
researchers and manufacturers, to improve patients' access to
promising cancer drugs.     
     Dr. DeLap earned both his medical degree and Ph.D. in
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from New York University, New
York, NY in l977.  He subsequently had specialty training in
Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan; and in Medical
Oncology at Yale University.  
                              -More-            Page 2, T96-54, Dr. Delap, Director for Cancer Drugs
     From l983 to l990, Dr. DeLap worked for two pharmaceutical
companies (Warner Lambert -- Parke Davis, and Lederle
Laboratories), where he supervised clinical studies of new drugs
for cancer treatment.
     Prior to joining FDA, Dr. DeLap held a full-time faculty
position at Georgetown University School of Medicine in
Washington, D.C.  At Georgetown, he conducted clinical trials of
new agents for cancer prevention and cancer treatment, and
conducted other types of cancer related research.
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