The black woman who developed the treatment of cancer through chemotherapy
Jane Cooke Wright was the black woman who developed the treatment of cancer through chemotherapy
Do you know that the contributions of Black people to modern medicine as well as all fields of science have been wonderful and legendary?
Are you aware that there is no field in human existence that Black people have not pioneered mind-blowing inventions? Even though the Western media try as much as possible to hide these achievements, no one can deny the fact that Black people are geniuses who have given to the world much more than the world has given to them.
For too long, black people have been made to feel inferior – because false role models and inventors were introduced to them.
One of the deadliest health conditions ever known to humanity has been cancer. Till today, cancer still affects people worldwide, but with the contributions of people like Dr. Jane Wright, it can now be managed to a great extent. This depends on where the patient gets his/her treatment and how much such patient has for treatment.
History
Jane Cooke Wright was the doctor who brought into light the use of chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer. She was born in New York in 1919 to Louis Tompkins Wright.
Her father was among the initial Harvard Medical School graduates who were African-Americans. So, it is only right that he set the pace and example for his daughter to follow. Her father was appointed to a staff position at a municipal hospital in New York in 1929 and this made him the first African American doctor to get that position in America.
Also, he was the first African-American police surgeon.
In 1945, Jane graduated from the New York Medical College with honors, after she had completed her internship at the Bellevue Hospital from 1945 to 1946.
She served as the assistant resident in internal medicine during her internship for nine months. By January 1949, Jane was hired as a staff physician with the New York Public Schools but continued as a visiting physician at the Harlem Hospital where she interned.
Cancer treatment
After six months on the job, she joined a team of researchers at her father’s institute known as “Harlem Cancer Foundation Research”.
At the time she joined her father’s foundation, chemotherapy, as a treatment for cancer was still experimental as her father was now giving more research time to the investigation of anti-cancer chemicals at the foundation.
The duo worked together during the trials for the perfect treatment, while she was carrying out the trials on the patients, her father worked in the laboratory.
Dr. Jane and her father started to test a new chemical for the treatment of leukemias and cancers of the lymphatic system in humans. Many of their patients who took part in the trials started to get better. At that point, the pair knew they were making headway. So, they continued.
Dr. Jane’s father died in 1952 and she took in as the director of the Cancer Research Foundation at Harlem Hospital. She continued on the path of discovering a permanent treatment for cancer, and she became an associate professor of surgical research and the director of cancer chemotherapy research at the New York University Medical Center in 1955. After this, she focused her research program on personalized medicine.
She initiated the treatment of tumors by cutting part of the tumor from the patient and testing it with the different drugs they produced. In this process, the tumor cells are made to grow in the laboratory, and then drugs are introduced to see if the tumor would stop growing. Before then, no one had ever thought of that aspect of tumor treatment.
Dr. Jane Wright was so bright and innovative that she was wanted in many parts of the world for her contributions to modern medicine. Before she began to travel around the world, she set up a comprehensive program at the New York Medical College, for doctors to study stroke, cancer and heart disease.
Also, she created a different program to coach doctors on chemotherapy.
While she was away from the United States, she led team and groups of oncologists in Africa, China, the former Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe where they succeeded in treating numerous cancer patients.
Legacy
She left a great legacy behind for the world, as she was called on to lead many medical organizations and teams.
In 1964, Dr jane was one of the seven people who founded the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
She was also appointed the head of the New York Cancer Society in 1971.
The innovator retired in 1985. Two years later, she was appointed as emerita professor at the New York Medical College.
In Conclusion, black people should be taught about women like her, so that when people say “black people are a burden to the world”, they show them articles such as this and prove such people wrong.
