Katie Goldberg

On Dec. 21, 1973, Jerry D. Boyd ran the first printing of a little newsletter that would become The Cancer Letter.

We think of the compilation of The Cancer Letter’s most-read stories as an end-of-year snapshot  of oncology’s priorities. 

What drew Jim Allison to T cells, Hagop Kantarjian to leukemia, or Betty Ford and Nancy Reagan to breast cancer advocacy?  

Every August since 2020, The Cancer Letter has asked a diverse panel of clinicians, basic scientists, early-career faculty, patient advocates, government officials, and regulators to tell us what they are reading.

The Cancer Letter staff  members were finalists for seven 2023 Dateline Awards from the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists—four for journalism, and three for design—and won first place for three.

2022 was the year to try to return to normal—or at least an approximation thereof.

The Cancer History Project preserves legacies, stories, and transcripts.

Is 2022 the year of thrillers? Statistics? Thrillers about statistics?

The Cancer Letter staff won seven first-place Dateline Awards from the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists­—three for journalism and four for design.

The ASCO annual meeting began in 1964 as a group of 51 physicians finalizing the bylaws of the organization—and has since turned into a much-anticipated global event that brings together 35,000 to 40,000 people across all areas of oncology. 

Fifty years ago, President Nixon interrupted Christmas festivities to sign the National Cancer Act of 1971 into law. Fifty years later, we invite you to immerse yourself in that day to reflect on how far we’ve come.

Directors of the first three NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers are learning from the past, starting with the National Cancer Act, and mapping an equitable future for oncology.

The battle over which institution gets to call itself the first cancer center is extremely complex—in part because the contenders predate NCI’s definition of a “cancer center.”

An NCI press conference is rarely a tabloid affair—except on Sept. 30, 1974. What was anticipated to be a dry occasion shifted when Betty Ford, wife of President Gerald Ford, underwent a radical mastectomy Sept. 28.

It is no small task to fully rebuild the website of a publication that has 16,118 published articles.

We are shocked and horrified by the recent spate of violence and hate crimes against people of Asian and Pacific Islander  descent across the United States.In response to these events, The Cancer Letter is stepping up coverage of inequities and disparities—and we are seeking your help and guidance on an upcoming series of investigative stories.As a publication that actively advocates for racial justice and health equity, we condemn these attacks, which have led to deaths, severe injuries, and widespread fear in AAPI communities.

How diverse are the upper rungs of leadership at America’s academic cancer centers?

Women in oncology who face gender bias know what not to do: seek help from their institutions.

It is not a matter of editorial opinion to say these words: Black Lives Matter.

Nearly half a century ago, Jerry Dock Boyd started covering the opening shots of the War on Cancer.