In Memoriam

Jay Loeffler, MD, FACR, FASTRO

Jay Loeffler, MD, FACR, FASTRO, began working with Inspire Oncology in January of 2022 after a long and accomplished career as an academician in Boston. He was most recently the Herman and Joan Suit Professor Emeritus at Harvard Medical School and a former Professor of Neurosurgery at the school. He spent 20 years as chairperson of radiation oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School from 2000 to 2020. Dr. Loeffler was the former Director of the Francis H. Burr Proton Therapy Center at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, the nation’s 2nd hospital-based proton therapy center.

As the author of more than 400 publications and co-editor of nine cancer textbooks, Dr. Loeffler also received funding from the National Cancer Institute for proton therapy. His work helped develop the use of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), now the mainstay treatment for benign and malignant intracranial tumors. This pivotal research paved the way for the eventual development of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR), also known as stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), now widely used for malignancies throughout the body.

Despite being one of the most famous and influential radiation oncologists ever, essentially introducing stereotactic radiation to the world, he would say that the greatest treasure of his life was his loving, devoted family, children Steven, Avery, and Brian and grandson Jack, and the enduring happiness he experienced in his over three-decade marriage to Dr. Nancy Tarbell, a world-renowned pediatric oncologist and former associate dean of Harvard medical school. Together at Harvard, Nancy and Jay devoted their lives to medicine and science and the care of critically ill cancer patients. Sadly, Dr. Loeffler passed away in 2023.