Dr. Boman is a physician whose career focuses on the genetics of CRC. His background includes training as a clinician scientist at the Mayo Clinic and NCI with advanced degrees in physics, medicine and molecular biology. During the mid-1980s, he held his first faculty position at MD Anderson Cancer Center where he established the University of Texas Colon Cancer Working Group to pursue studies on the hereditary aspects of CRC. He then moved to Creighton University as Cancer Center Director. While in Omaha, he worked closely with Henry Lynch for 10 years to identify the DNA mismatch repair genes and they co-authored 22 papers together. He also collaborated with Burt Vogelstein to map and isolate the APC gene. In 1999 he moved to Thomas Jefferson University as Director of the Divisions of Medical Oncology & Medical Genetics. There he established the Jefferson Hereditary Cancer Center and was instrumental in obtaining NCI-designation for Jefferson’s Cancer Center. In 2007, he moved to the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute as Medical Director of Cancer Genetics. During his tenure in Delaware, the cancer genetics program has grown to include 13 full-time genetic counselors who provide care for over 3,000 patients per year. He also leads a laboratory research group to study how APC mutations dysregulate tissue renewal to discover mechanisms that explain how CRC happens.
Dr Boman has been an active member of the CGA-IGC since its inception. He was CGA president in 2004 and organizer of CGA-IGC Annual meetings in 2000 and 2004. He has regularly given presentations on his research at the CGA Annual meetings and attended the CGA meeting in Buenos Aires Argentina. In collaboration with the CGA, he was PI on an NCI AP4 award in 2005 to establish a Center for Studies on Hereditary Colorectal Cancer. His attendance and participation in CGA meetings and activities over the past 30 years have led to many close collegial relations and friendships. Recently, he worked with many of these CGA colleagues to write a paper on the history of the CGA-IGC that was published in Familial Cancer in January 2026.