The scientific contributions of James and Jimmie Holland

On Christmas Eve, Memorial Sloan Kettering and the wider cancer community lost a beloved and brilliant doctor, Jimmie Holland, who died of cardiovascular disease at 89. Dr. Holland was a tireless advocate for supporting the emotional and psychological needs of people with cancer. She also made huge strides in reducing the stigma surrounding the disease.

Dr. Holland was considered a founder of the field of psycho-oncology, which combines oncology and psychiatry. It is increasingly considered a vital part of comprehensive cancer care, largely thanks to her work.

In 1977, Dr. Holland joined MSK as the inaugural Chief of the Psychiatry Service, the first such service at a cancer center anywhere in the world. She was then named Chair of MSK’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences when it was created in 1996. The department was also the first of its kind, and Dr. Holland remained in her role there until 2003. At the time of her death, she held the Wayne E. Chapman Chair in Psychiatric Oncology.

James Holland became a doctor thanks to what he calls “a series of fortunate mistakes.” The son of a prominent lawyer in Morristown, New Jersey, Holland was raised to go into law, too. But that changed when he took a course in biology at Princeton University and became enthralled with seeing cells under a microscope.

“I was just captivated by what I saw,” he said. “Sometimes life works like that. Things suddenly turn and you’re off and heading in a totally different direction.”

During the Korean War, Holland was in the U.S. Army and had secured an entry position at Columbia-Presbyterian University, only to have President Harry Truman extend the military service time. When Columbia couldn’t hold the position for him, Holland later went to Francis Delafield Hospital, which had opened to care for cancer patients. Holland’s plan was to mark time at Delafield until a new slot became available at Columbia. Yet Holland soon became intrigued with cancer and how best to manage it.

These interview notes were created by Tim Wendel, lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, in the process of writing his book, “Cancer Crossings: A Brother, His Doctors, and the Quest for a Cure to Childhood Leukemia.” Wendel is a member of the Cancer History Project editorial board.

Wendel conducted several interviews with members of the ALGB, or Acute Leukemia Group B, including Donald Pinkel, his brother’s doctor Lucius Sinks, Jerry Yates, James Holland, Emil “Tom” Frei, and Emil J. Freireich. Considered “cancer cowboys” of the time, this group of doctors sought to treat and cure childhood leukemia, the disease that Wendel’s brother died of, at a time when the survival rate was about 10%. 

In a 2014 interview with James Holland, the doctor said he is drawn to oncology because of the mystery-solving nature of the field.

“Everybody likes mysteries and there’s nothing better than solving them. You look at cancer and realize how much we don’t know and how much needs to be done. It’s an opportunity for young, virogous people—a chance for them to say that they want to be a part of that.” 

“Everybody likes to take on some unknown,” he said. “We’re looking at the bigger picture. What makes a cell stay alive and what makes a cell die? “ 

In a 2015 interview with Jimmie Holland, the founder of psycho-oncology, she said conversations between ALGB members at her home got her thinking about how cancer patients feel. 

“Jim and Tom and Don Pinkel back in the day, they’d be talking about various treatments and what they were doing and I’d ask, ‘aren’t you ever curious about how your patients feel?’” she said. “And their reaction was something like, ‘well, they’ll feel better once we find a cure.’ I couldn’t help thinking that there was more to focus on there.”

“With cancer back then people [thought] they were somehow a wimp, that people would think less of them, if they raised any issues at all. Of course, we now know that’s so wrong. That so much of fighting these illnesses is mental, the stress of it.”

To the Editor:

A Fisher’s Tale

Once upon a time they apprehended a slovenly pickpocket in the far reaches of the kingdom with a fresh-picked wallet in his hand. They called the king’s ministers who ordered him tapped on the wrist of his misguided extremity. They forbade him to put his hand in any pocket for a full eight days. Then, after confiscating the wallet, they ordered the owner executed for not shouting “Stop, thief!” loud enough.

Thus they taught the citizenry that pickpockets are bad-they spoil the reputation of the kingdom and embarrass the king. And, as for owners, well….

James Holland 
Distinguished Professor of Neoplastic Diseases 
Mount Sinai Medical Center