In 2002, Edwin Vazquez, a biology professor at the University of Puerto Rico, came across Rhoads' 1932 letter and contacted the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) about it. Given the letter's offensive nature, he demanded that Rhoads' name be removed from the AACR award. Others also contacted the AACR, including Puerto Rico's Secretary of State Ferdinand Mercado. Revival of the issue generated a fresh wave of publicity. The AACR, which said it had not known of the 1932 controversy, commissioned an investigation led by Jay Katz, a bioethicist from Yale University. Katz said although "there was no evidence of Dr. Rhoads' killing patients or transplanting cancer cells, the letter itself was reprehensible enough to remove his name from the award." The AACR agreed with his conclusion.