Our Founder, Dr. Zelen

Decades ago, Dr. Zelen recognized significant failings in the way clinical trials were being conducted in hospitals and laboratories, including inadequate guidelines for the gathering, analysis, and control of data. There were no acceptable industry-wide practices of review to ensure the accuracy of research findings.

To solve these problems, Dr. Zelen devised an approach built on innovative methods of data management and analysis. In 1975, while working as a professor of statistics and statistical laboratory director at the State University of New York at Buffalo, he opened Frontier Science & Technology Research Foundation. Soon the organization began receiving grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, with the first major awards supporting clinical trials on cancer treatments.

Thelma Zelen, Dr. Zelen’s wife, was involved with Frontier Science since its inception. Serving as a constant source of support toward the growth of Frontier Science both domestically and internationally, she played key roles in the organization’s administration and development, and served as the first administrative officer of Frontier Science. Before her retirement, Thelma Zelen was the Chief Administrative Director for the Boston Office.

In 1977, Dr. Zelen relocated to Boston, Massachusetts, to serve as chairman of the Department of Biostatistical Science at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Three years later, he took on the additional role of chairman of the Department of Biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health. In 1997, the Harvard School of Public Health established the annual Marvin Zelen Leadership Award in Statistical Science to honor Dr. Marvin Zelen’s long and distinguished career as a statistician and his major role in shaping the field of biostatistics.

Other organizations have also honored Dr. Zelen and his transformative contribution to research. His long list of awards includes a Medal of Honor from the American Cancer Society, the Fisher Lecturer Award from the Committee of the Presidents of the Statistical Society, and the Samuel S. Wilks Memorial Award from the American Statistical Association. Dr. Zelen also received an honorary doctorate from the Université Victor Segalen in Bordeaux, France.

Dr. Zelen passed away in 2014 at the age of 87. The standards and practices he developed continue to be used worldwide in clinical trials on many diseases. His tremendous legacy lives on in every study that uses his methods and in the work of the team at Frontier Science.