Celebrate Excellence

“Marquette University did a great job preparing me academically for medical school and my career. More important than that, Marquette fostered the faith basis on which I practice medicine and go about my life.”

Dr. Colleen Lawton, Arts ’70 and recipient of an Alumni Merit Award, began her academic career at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1987 as an instructor and rose to the rank of full professor 10 years later at the age of 40, one of the youngest women to do so.

She is program director of the radiation oncology residency program at the Medical College and a tenured professor of radiation oncology in charge of the prostate cancer program.

On the national level, Lawton has served on the residency review committee that governs all training in her field across the United States. She has also been nominated to serve on the American Board of Radiology, which designs and institutes national certifying exams for doctors in her field.

In the area of prostate cancer research, Lawton has designed and run multiple National Cancer Institute clinical trials, working to improve the outcome of prostate cancer patients with all stages of the disease. She has published dozens of articles and book chapters, is a member of multiple state and national societies, and has been honored with numerous awards. She has been voted one of the Best Doctors in America annually since 1998.

Lawton believes in hard work with special emphasis on faith and family. “Marquette University did a great job preparing me academically for medical school and my career,” she says. “More important than that, Marquette fostered the faith basis on which I practice medicine and go about my life. I do the work I do simply because a day does not go by that my patients don’t teach me something about the true beauty of the human spirit.”