Medical Surgeon. He was a pioneer in the biology and treatment of breast cancer. He became Chairman of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast Project at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. His work showed that early-stage breast cancer could be more effectively treated by lumpectomy, in combination with radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and/or hormonal therapy, than by radical mastectomy. The oncology journal and website OncLive described his research as "launching the breast cancer community into the modern era" and presented him with a Giants of Cancer Care award for his work that eventually ended the standard practice of performing the Halsted radical mastectomy, a treatment that had been in place for more than 75 years. According to another major oncology journal, breast-cancer survival rates have improved worldwide because of Fisher. The Atlantic called him "a medical hero". He was awarded the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research in 1985 "for his pioneering studies that have led to a dramatic improvement in survival and in the quality of life for women with breast cancer." He was also one of the first surgeons to perform kidney transplants. His impact on breast-cancer treatment was the subject of an August 2013 article in the Atlantic Monthly that was coupled with his 95th birthday. He introduced an entirely new theory about the spread of breast cancer: that it spread through the blood and lymph systems. Ultimately, his recommendations won the approval of the medical establishment. "In 1985," reported the Atlantic, "the New England Journal of Medicine published two of Fisher's studies that definitively proved" his earlier findings. His recommended approach to treating breast cancer thereafter gained universal acceptance. Into at least his nineties, Fisher was a Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. Fisher had been a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences since 1985. He served on a number of scientific advisory committees and was appointed by the White House to serve on the National Cancer Advisory Board and the President's Cancer Panel. He was a member of many editorial boards and belonged to most of the important academic, medical, surgical, and scientific societies. He served as President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology from 1992 to 1993and on the board of directors of the American Association for Cancer Research from 1988 to 1991. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1991, was named a fellow of American Association for Cancer Research in 2013, and was a fellow of American College of Surgeons, from which he also was awarded the prestigious Jacobson Innovation Award in 2009. He won the Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award for 1985, which was given in recognition of "his profound influence in shaping the character of modern breast cancer treatment, thus lengthening and enriching the lives of women suffering from this dread disease". The citation noted that Fisher had "done more than any other single individual to advance the understanding of the clinical biology of breast cancer" and "conceptually reshaped and improved the treatment of breast cancer, extending and enriching the lives of women suffering from this dread disease....From 1972 to 1981, the use of radical mastectomies has declined progressively from 46.8 percent to 4.5 percent. Each year from 55,000 to 60,000 women in the U.S. have breast cancer of 4 centimeters (1.6 in) or less and are eligible for this breast-preserving therapy". In 2006, Fisher was awarded the American Association for Cancer Research Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research. "Dr. Fisher's important work not only helped those who fight the disease, but has also helped prevent breast cancer in women who are at high risk", said Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D. (h.c.), chief executive officer of the AACR. Fisher won a Fulbright Fellowship, the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation's Kettering Prize (1993), the Medallion for Scientific Achievement of the American Surgical Association (2003), the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cancer Research, the American Cancer Society Medal of Honor (1986), the Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center’s C. Chester Stock Award, the James Ewing Award of the Society of Surgical Oncology, the Sheen Lifetime Achievement Award of the American College of Surgeons, the Distinguished Service Award from the Friends of the National Library of Medicine,[5] the AACR-Joseph H. Burchenal Clinical Research Award (1998), the AstraZeneca Historical Milestones Excellence in Clinical Research Award (2003), the Komen Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction from the Susan G. Komen Foundation (1988), and the Distinguished Service Award for Scientific Achievement of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (1999). In addition, he was given Pittsburgh's "Man of the Year" Award, and he won the Jacobson Innovation Award, which is the highest research award given by the American College of Surgeons. To honor his career, the University of Pittsburgh created the Bernard Fisher Lecture in 2005. In January 2006, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine named David L. Bartlett, M.D., professor of surgery and chief of the division of surgical oncology at the school, as its inaugural Dr. Bernard Fisher Professor of Surgery. He was awarded honorary doctorates by Yale University (2004), Carlow University, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine of the City University of New York, and the University of Pittsburgh. Early in his career, Fisher won a Markle Scholarship.