Dr. Richard Wender is Alumni Professor and Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. A graduate of Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Dr. Wender directed the Family Practice residency program at Thomas Jefferson for 10 years, became Vice Chair of the Department in 1995 and Chair in 2002.
In addition to being a practicing family doctor, Dr. Wender’s major area of academic focus has been cancer prevention and screening. Dr. Wender has been a volunteer leader at multiple levels of the American Cancer Society. He served as President of the American Cancer Society from 2006-07, becoming the first primary care clinician to serve as National President in the 93 year history of ACS.
From 2006-08, Dr. Wender co-chaired the American Cancer Society (ACS) task force on Access to Care and helped launch that organization’s national campaign of health care access. Dr. Wender was a co-investigator of an NCI-funded study of tailored interventions to increase colorectal cancer screening. Dr. Wender is the editor of “How to Increase Colon Cancer Screening Rates in Practice” a Toolbox and Guide produced by the National Colorectal Roundtable, ACS and Thomas Jefferson University. He is the recipient of the American Cancer Society’s St George Medal, and National Divisional Award, and the Cancer Prevention Laurel for National Leadership from the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation.
Dr. Wender has lectured and written extensively about the role of primary care clinicians in preventive care. Improving access to high quality care remains the central focus of his career.