Answering big questions: Beatrice Mintz, Donald Pinkel, Baruch Blumberg, Irwin Rose

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Spotlight Article

Query Theory: A Tribute to Beatrice Mintz, PhD
By Fox Chase Cancer Center | May 4, 2021

Big questions. That’s what Beatrice Mintz, PhD, the former Jack Schultz Chair of Basic Science at Fox Chase Cancer Center, has dedicated her career to answering. Small questions, in her opinion, are not worth the time or effort. As a result of this philosophy—and through sheer force of personality—Mintz’s opus, according to Jonathan Chernoff, MD, Chief Scientific Officer at Fox Chase, contains the platforms of several fields, including developmental genetics, gene-transfer technology, epigenetics, and the tumor microenvironment.

“To pioneer in one major area of science is remarkable. But more? Otherworldly,” he says. An elected member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1973, Mintz, now 97, has collected scientific honors that are coveted, prestigious, and rare. But accolades were never the point. The point, Mintz says, is “simply the pursuit of a series of questions that I’ve enjoyed answering.”


Announcing the Donald Pinkel Archive

In collaboration with Donald Pinkel’s daughter, Mary Pinkel, the Cancer History Project is preserving and republishing materials from his personal archive. Pinkel, the founding director and CEO of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, is also celebrated by Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Cancer History Project.

Personal letters: Mixed reviews of Donald Pinkel’s article on Childhood Lymphocytic Leukemia
By Cancer History Project | May 6, 2021

In 1970, Donald Pinkel’s article, “Drug Dosage and Remission Duration in Childhood Lymphocytic Leukemia,” received mixed reviews. The paper, later published in Feb. 1971 in Cancer, was rejected by the Journal of Pediatrics. However, in a personal letter, Emil Frei lauds it as “an extremely important article.”

Both letters are reproduced here and available for download.

Primary source: Donald Pinkel’s June 1, 1986 Kettering Prize acceptance remarks
By Cancer History Project | May 6, 2021

There needs to be renewed enthusiasm and determination to extend nutrition and health services to all children in need, regardless of the socio-economic, ethnic, geographic or immigration status of their parents.

Donald Pinkel, June 1, 1986

Primary source: Donald Pinkel’s June 6, 1986 Kettering Prize remarks: Curing Children of Leukemia
By Cancer History Project | May 6, 2021


People


Institutions

National Breast Cancer Coalition Accomplishments and Milestones
By National Breast Cancer Coalition | May 7, 2021

Rutgers Cancer Institute’s 2019 redesignation: New Jersey’s only Comprehensive Cancer Center
By Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey | May 4, 2021


This column features the latest posts to the Cancer History Project by our growing list of contributors

The Cancer History Project is a free, web-based, collaborative resource intended to mark the 50th anniversary of the National Cancer Act and designed to continue in perpetuity. The objective is to assemble a robust collection of historical documents and make them freely available. 

Access to the Cancer History Project is open to the public at CancerHistoryProject.com. You can also follow us on Twitter at @CancerHistProj.

Is your institution a contributor to the Cancer History Project? Eligible institutions include cancer centers, advocacy groups, professional societies, pharmaceutical companies, and key organizations in oncology. 

To apply to become a contributor, please contact admin@cancerhistoryproject.com.

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