Jimmie C. Holland, M.D.

Jimmie C. Holland, M.D., recognized internationally as the founder of the subspecialty of psycho-oncology, is attending psychiatrist and holds the first endowed chair in psychiatric oncology, the Wayne E. Chapman Chair, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. She is professor of psychiatry at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. She began the first full-time psychiatric service in a cancer hospital in 1977 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and in 1996, she became the first woman chair of a clinical department at Memorial. From this base, the concept of psycho-oncology evolved to become a nationally recognized subspecialty of oncology. The Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences has trained over 300 psychologists and psychiatrists in both clinical and research areas. Dr. Holland was PI of the first research training grant in psycho-oncology which has continued uninterrupted for 29 years. Several key figures in psycho-oncology trained in the program: David Cella, Paul Jacobsen, Julia Rowland, Jamie Ostroff, Bill Redd, Bill Breitbart, as well as several in Europe, Asia and Africa.

Dr. Holland studied the prevalence and nature of psychological problems in patients with cancer in the 1970s and established the first committee studying psychological and quality of life issues in a cooperative group, the Cancer Leukemia Group B. In the 1980s she became the Founding President of the International Psycho-oncology Society (1984) and of the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (1986). Dr. Holland has been senior editor of the Oxford University Press textbooks in psycho-oncology, first The Handbook of Psychooncology, (1989); Psycho-Oncology, (1998); and the 2nd Edition (2010). In 1992, she started the first international journal in the field, Psycho-Oncology, and continues as co-editor. Dr. Holland and Sheldon Lewis co-authored a book to help patients and their families cope with cancer, The Human Side of Cancer, (HarperCollins, 2000). Dr. Holland has chaired the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s (NCCN) Panel on Management of Distress since its beginning in 1997 which provided the first clinical practice guidelines for psychosocial care and management of distress. She served on the Institute of Medicine Multidisciplinary Committee which reported in 2007 that there is a new standard of quality cancer care today which demands that the psychosocial domain must be integrated into routine cancer care. Dr. Holland has received awards from the American Cancer Society, ASCO, AACR and the American Psychiatric Association. She was elected Member of the Institute of Medicine in 1995. She is married to Dr. James Holland, pioneer medical oncologist and editor of the Holland-Frei textbook, Cancer Medicine. They have 6 children and 10 grandchildren.