Former faculty Nicholas Vogelzang, MD

Nicholas Vogelzang, MD, an internationally recognized oncologist and former University of Chicago faculty member renowned for his kindness to patients, died on September 20, 2022, in Las Vegas. He was 72. Throughout his more than 20 years at the University, Vogelzang treated genitourinary cancers and mesothelioma, served in key leadership positions, and became recognized nationally in the field.

Vogelzang received his MD from the University of Illinois Chicago, and completed his residency at Rush University Medical Center and medical oncology training at the University of Minnesota. In 1982, he was recruited to join the University of Chicago faculty in the Section of Hematology/ Oncology in the Department of Medicine, where he built a genitourinary oncology program from scratch, treating prostate, kidney, bladder and other urologic cancers. His enthusiasm for improving cancer care and for treating patients with empathy was apparent from the start.

In the 1980s and 1990s, few treatments existed for genitourinary cancers. Yet Vogelzang “always had a thousand and one ideas of what we could do differently for patients, how we could improve care and what research we should pursue,” said Walter Stadler, MD, Fred C. Buffett Professor of Medicine and Dean for Clinical Research. That led Vogelzang to become known as a leading clinical investigator in genitourinary oncology. In addition to treating prostate and renal cancers, he discovered the first life-extending treatment for mesothelioma: a chemotherapy drug combination of pemetrexed and cisplatin.

Amid Vogelzang’s energy for transforming cancer research, he always put patients first. “He was always at ease with patients, warm and direct a true role model,” said Sonali Smith, MD, Elwood V. Jensen Professor of Medicine and Chief of Hematology/Oncology. His empathy may have been due