Philip A. Pizzo ’70M (MD)

Philip Pizzo, MD, has devoted much of his medical career to the diagnosis, management, prevention, and treatment of childhood cancers and the infectious complications that occur in children whose immune systems are compromised by cancer and AIDS.

Pizzo received his medical degree from the University of Rochester. After graduating, he completed an internship and residency at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston, a teaching fellowship at Harvard Medical School, and a clinical and research fellowship in pediatric oncology at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). His career continued at NCI, serving as head of the infectious disease section, chief of the pediatric department, and as acting scientific director for the Division of Clinical Sciences. Before joining Stanford University in 2001, he was the physician-in-chief of Children’s Hospital in Boston and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, where he was also the Thomas Morgan Rotch Professor of Pediatrics.

Pizzo is now professor emeritus at Stanford where he served as the David and Susan Heckerman professor and founding director of the Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute. He also served as dean of the Stanford School of Medicine, where he was the Carl and Elizabeth Naumann Professor of Pediatrics and of Microbiology and Immunology. In the fall of 2022, Pizzo began rabbinical studies at the Academy for Jewish Religion, California.

Pizzo is the author of more than 650 scientific articles and 16 books and monographs, including Principles and Practice of Pediatric Oncology, the seventh edition of which was published in 2015. He has also received numerous awards and honors, among them the Public Health Service Outstanding Service Medal, the Barbara Bohen Pfiefer Award for Scientific Excellence, and the Ronald McDonald Charities “Award of Excellence.” He received the 2012 John Howland Award, the highest honor for lifetime achievement bestowed by the American Pediatric Society.

Pizzo has been elected to several prestigious organizations and societies, including the Association of American Physicians, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the American Pediatric Society, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He has served as chair of the Association of Academic Health Centers and chair of the Council of Deans of the Association of American Medical Colleges. In 2009, Pizzo was elected to the Board of Trustees of the University of Rochester on which he served from 2009–2022.