Donald Gleason, M.D., Ph.D.

The Masonic Cancer Center wishes to pay tribute to Donald Gleason, M.D., Ph.D., a pioneer in prostate cancer research and treatment, who died December 28, 2008 at age 88. Dr. Gleason, who retired from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1986, was a central figure in developing the widely used system for rating prostate cancer tumors, known as the Gleason grading system.

"His work is the gold standard for prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment selection," said Akhouri Sinha, Ph.D., a colleague of Gleason's as well as a professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School and a member of the Masonic Cancer Center. "Worldwide, his system is used annually at least one million times —that's the number of people diagnosed with this cancer. In the United States alone, about 230,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer annually. His original work was published in 1966, and it remains unchanged in spite of numerous attempts to change it." (To read Dr. Gleason's description of how he developed the grading system, see his narrative addendum to his curriculum vitae (PDF).)

Dr. Gleason earned his medical degree from the University of Minnesota in 1944, completed his internship with the Army Medical Corps Reserve, and served his residency in pathology at the Veterans Administration Hospital, Minneapolis. He was named chief of pathology at the VA Hospital in 1950 and worked there until his retirement. Among his numerous honors was the Outstanding Achievement Award from the University of Minnesota. Read the Star Tribune obituary.