Ezra M. Greenspan, who died Sept. 3 at age 86, was a pioneer in the treatment of cancers, specifically in the development of the now-widespread technique of combination chemotherapy, in which a cocktail of chemicals is used to suppress the disease.

Combining a private oncology practice with involvement in research for over 50 years, Greenspan developed treatments for breast and ovarian cancers, including an important role in the use of the anti-estrogen drug Tamoxifen.

As a leading cancer researcher as well as a physician, Greenspan helped oncology to become recognized as a distinctive medical specialty.

After medical school at New York University and an internship at Mount Sinai Hospital during which he worked with early forms of chemotherapy, Greenspan was put in charge of the tumor service at Walter Reed Army Hospital in 1946.

At Walter Reed, he faced a large group of relatively young patients, soldiers who had been diagnosed with “incurable” lymphomas and germ-cell tumors. Greenspan demonstrated the effectiveness of nitrogen mustard on such cancers, particularly when administered in combination with radiation therapy. This form of therapy is still in use today.

In 1948, Greenspan was named to head the new chemotherapy unit at the National Cancer Institute, where he demonstrated for the first time, in mice, the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy. He also discovered that the lack of certain enzymes in mice could increase their susceptibility to drug toxicity.

The interplay of genes, enzymes, and anti-cancer drugs would remain a theme of Greenspan’s career and help lead to the development of tumor markers and pharmacogenomics, the science of targeting drug therapy to the patient’s own distinct genetic makeup.

Greenspan returned to Mount Sinai as an attending physician in 1952 and began research into breast and ovarian cancers. The combination chemotherapy he developed laid the basis for the “Cooper regimen,” still used to treat breast cancers worldwide. When Mount Sinai’s medical school was founded in 1968, Greenspan joined the faculty, and then served as chief of the school’s division of oncology.

Also in 1968, Greenspan founded The Chemotherapy Foundation, which holds annual symposiums for doctors. The foundation, which announced Greenspan’s death, expects 2,000 doctors to attend its annual meeting, “Innovative Cancer Therapy for Tomorrow,” later this year in Manhattan.

Greenspan retired in 2001, although he remained involved with the foundation. He was a frequent contributor to discussions of public health in newspapers, and was not shy about underlining his own contributions.

“When I created combination chemotherapy treatment for cancer patients in 1949,it was the first step in turning a killer disease into a treatable and often curable illness,” Greenspan said in a statement released by The Chemotherapy Foundation. “I withstood skeptics’ derision and establishment apathy to take part in one of medicine’s most important crusades, and have been battling disease and struggling with bureaucracy for over half a century.”

Ezra Martin Greenspan

Died September 3 in New York; survived by his wife, Edith, his children Karen, Ellen, and David, and three grandchildren.