Cancer research was still in its
infant years. Treatment was unpleasant. Whole organs sometimes had to be
removed. Apparently doctors even tried injecting mustard gas into cancer
patients. Jane wanted to improve treatment methods. She spent her research on
trying to find an effective way to combat tumors. Rather than testing her
methods on individual mice, she would test her drugs on cancer tissue samples. Jane’s
accomplishments include refining techniques that involved chemotherapy and methotrexate.
She used chemotherapy to specifically attack tumors in area that were hard to
reach. Methotrexate, at the time, was being studied as a treatment for leukemia.
However, Jane used methotrexate to attack the breast cancer directly and saw
that the tumors went into remission. Methotrexate is now widely used to treat
cancer, as well as some autoimmune diseases.
Jane’s accomplishments in oncology
led her to become one of the nation’s top doctor in cancer research. She wrote
over one hundred papers on cancer treatment research within forty years. In
1964, she was appointed to the President’s Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer,
and Stroke by Lyndon B. Johnson. She was the head of many cancer research
groups in Africa, China, and Europe. Jane became the highest-ranking
African-American woman in medicine by 1967. She helped found the American
Society of Clinical Oncology, and she became the president of the New York Cancer
Society in 1971. Jane continued her research and her teaching until she retired
in 1987.
Jane’s
hard work helped scientists everywhere better understand how to treat cancer.
It is because of her work that cancer research is where it is today. Jane is a
fantastic example of a woman scientist who is underappreciated. I wanted to share Jane, not only for the incredible work she
did, but also to show how women of color in science are often overlooked. Thankfully,
more and more women of color in science fields are being talked about. Jane was
a dedicated doctor. She paved the way for many women in medicine, and she
deserves to be recognized for her work.
Sources
“Women
in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World,” written and
illustrated by Rachel Ignotofsky
Dr.
Jane C. Wright: https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_336.html
Her journey is very fascinating. I had no idea that treatments were that horrendous before her discoveries. So for her to want to make a safer and more effective way to help treat cancer is amazing and has help so many people. Without her cancer treatment would definitely not be where it is today.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how many amazing scientists just aren't talked about as much as you would expect for such amazing accomplishments. Her research has definitively helped many peoples lives and continues to do so with research in these areas based on her work.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Jane Cook Wright before reading your blog post, which is a shame. She changed the face of cancer treatment, and her contributions to oncology have saved many lives. She is definitely a scientist that more people should know about. I think it's easy to focus on the limitations of treatments, especially because we constantly want to improve upon old techniques to make treatments more effective and safer. But it is also important to reflect on just how far we have come and who helped us get there, specifically with cancer treatment. Jane Cook Wright was a very important figure who helped pave the way for the design of new cancer treatments.
ReplyDeleteI admit to never having heard the name, despite the fact that two people close to me have overcome different cancers using methotrexate (which is still awful).
ReplyDeleteYou'd think that there was a conspiracy to present science history as entirely the domain of white men*.
*To be clear, this isn't entirely sarcasm. I think that there is, if not a conspiracy so much as a culture of ignoring non-white men and their contributions. You're helping to kill it with this blog.