Mayo’s S. Vincent Rajkumar, M.D., receives Robert A. Kyle Lifetime Achievement Award

S. Vincent Rajkumar, M.D. (HEMO ’99), Division of Hematology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, was awarded the 14th annual Robert A. Kyle Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF). The award was presented at an IMF annual meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, in June 2016.

The IMF has honored an outstanding physician with the award each year since 2003. The award is named for its first recipient, myeloma expert Robert Kyle, M.D. (I ’59), now a supplemental consultant in research in the Division of Hematology at Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Rajkumar, who has worked closely with Dr. Kyle for 20 years, is the Edward W. and Betty Knight Scripps Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic. He joined the Mayo Clinic staff in 1999 and became a professor in 2006. His research focuses on clinical, epidemiological and laboratory research for myeloma and related disorders.

He has led numerous phase I, II and III clinical trials investigating new agents in myeloma, including pivotal trials that led to the approval of thalidomide for myeloma in the U.S. He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers primarily in myeloma and related plasma cell disorders. Dr. Rajkumar was lead author on the 2014 International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) Updated Criteria for the Diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma. He is associate editor of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, section editor of Leukemia, associate editor of the European Journal of Haemotology and editor-in-chief of Blood Cancer Journal.

Prior Mayo Clinic alumni recipients of the award include:

• 2006: Brian G.M. Durie, M.D. (I ’70, HEM ’72)
• 2003: Robert Kyle, M.D. (I ’59)