Jimmie C. Holland, MD, known internationally as the founder of the subspecialty field of psycho-oncology, died suddenly on December 24 at age 89.
Dr Holland was an attending psychiatrist and Wayne E Chapman Chair in Psychiatric Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in New York City. She was the first chair of MSK’s Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. She was also professor of psychiatry at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City.
Dr Jimmie C. Holland
“Jimmie was a pioneer in the truest sense,” William Breitbart, MD, chairman, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at MSK, told Medscape Medical News.
“With colleagues, she established a full-time psychiatry service at Memorial Sloan Kettering in 1977 — one of the first of its kind in the field of oncology — and served as its chief from then until 1996. She then became chair of the newly formed Department of Psychiatry and served in that role until 2003. In the interim she founded the American Psychosocial Oncology Society, the International Psycho-Oncology Society, and the international journal Psycho-Oncology,” noted Dr Breitbart.
“We’ve lost a remarkable woman; a once-in-a-generation influencer,” he added.
“Jimmie Holland was a visionary leader who imagined and then created the field of psychosocial oncology, and she remained its inspiration and driving force until the end of her life,” Gary Rodin, MD, a psychiatrist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, told Medscape Medical News.
Jimmie Holland was a visionary leader who imagined and then created the field of psychosocial oncology.
“Jimmie cleared a pathway that so many of us were able to follow to ensure that cancer care is person-centered care,” he added.
Dr Holland’s passion for her work and colleagues led her to be called the “mother” of psycho-oncology, according to a 2004 interview in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI).
Rabiya Tuma, PhD, the journalist who interviewed Dr Holland for that JNCI article, said her good will extended to reporters. “After that initial connection, I had multiple opportunities to interview and talk with Jimmie. She was always welcoming, full of good humor, and happy to share her insights on her work or that of her colleagues,” said Dr Tuma, who is now an editor at Medscape Medical News.
Dr Holland devoted her career to helping patients, their families, and medical staff cope with the psychological burden of cancer and its treatment. She conducted some of the first studies on the psychological impact of cancer on patients and showed that interventions to address cancer-related anxiety and depression are helpful. In 2000, she published a book for patients titled The Human Side of Cancer.
According to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), about a third of patients with cancer suffer significant distress from their diagnosis. Dr Holland played a key role in development of the NCCN Distress Thermometer and Problem List for Patients, a psychosocial distress-screening tool that measures a patient’s distress level and helps identify those who would benefit from referral to a mental healthcare specialist and closer monitoring.
Role Model and Hero
“Jimmie was a hero, an advocate, an inspirational leader, a teacher, a mentor who launched the careers of the leaders of a worldwide field, and always, up to the last days of her life, a caring and effective clinician,” Dr Breitbart said.
Dr Holland’s death is a “profound loss” to many, he continued. “We will celebrate her life and her contributions to all of us who knew her, worked with her, were inspired by her, mentored by her, and loved her,” he added.
Dr Holland was born in Nevada, Texas, in 1928. She received her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. She was a fellow of the Institute of Medicine and served on many national committees for the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute.
Toronto’s Dr Rodin lauded her personality: “She was a kind and unpretentious person — perhaps that came from her Texas roots — who was more interested in supporting others than she was in promoting herself.”
Even in her advanced years, Dr Holland participated in her profession. “Jimmie had time for everyone, and we were touched, but not surprised, that she came without hesitation to the launch of our Global Institute of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care in Toronto in 2015,” said Dr Rodin. “Jimmie was a role model and a hero to generations of women and men in supportive care — and her legacy of compassion, humanity, and evidence-based psychosocial care have forever transformed what is now considered standard in cancer care. I will miss the twinkle in her eye but I will always be guided by her spirit.”
Dr Holland is survived by her husband, James F. Holland, MD, distinguished professor of neoplastic diseases at the Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, their six children, and many grandchildren.
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