HPD Commencement Program - 2017

20 D istinguished H onoree C ommencement S peaker for A fternoon C eremony Michael E. Kasper , M.D., is a radiation oncologist and codirector of the Lynn Cancer Institute of Boca Raton Regional Hospital. A practitioner and advocate for patient care, Kasper is a renowned national spokesperson for cancer awareness and prevention. Kasper is the former chairperson of the American Cancer Society—Florida/ Puerto Rico Divisions and a past president of the South Palm Beach County Unit, where he was appointed a lifetime member in 2008. He served on the American Cancer Society’s national board of directors from 2010 to 2014, and as a member of the national assembly from 2006 to 2012. Kasper joined the Lynn Cancer Institute in 1993, serving as the medical director of the Eugene M. and Christine E. Lynn Clinical Research Center 2003–2008. He is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and an affiliate assistant professor at Florida Atlantic University’s Department of Biomedical Sciences. From 2005 to 2012, Kasper was on the board of directors at Florida Clinical Trials, Inc. He served as chairperson of the State of Florida Cancer Control and Research Advisory Council 2005–2008. He is a founding member of the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, Inc., and served on its board of directors 1995–2000. Kasper is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Palm Beach County Health Care Hero-Physician Hero award in 2004 for his work on Amendment 6, the Smoke-Free for Health Initiative, which helped to create the smoke-free workplace. He received a fellowship from the American College of Radiation Oncology in 2003, an ASTRO Education and Development Fund Travel Grant in 1991, the American Cancer Society Student Award for Research in 1988, and a Silver Scalpel Award in 1986. Kasper has also authored numerous publications and presented at national and international conferences. He graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1981. He earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, Florida, in 1989, followed by a one-year internship and three-year residency at Shands Hospital at the University of Florida 1990–1993.