A Black History Month Spotlight
Dr. Jane Cooke Wright (1919–2013) was a groundbreaking oncologist whose research helped establish chemotherapy as an effective cancer treatment. Born into a family of Black physicians, she earned her medical degree from New York Medical College in 1945. She later joined her father at the Cancer Research Foundation at Harlem Hospital, where they developed methods to test chemotherapy drugs directly on human tumors using tissue cultures.
After her father’s passing in 1952, Dr. Wright became the foundation's director and continued to lead chemotherapy research at NYU Medical Center. Her work was vital in identifying methotrexate as an effective treatment for breast and skin cancers. In 1964, she co-founded the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and in 1967, she became the highest-ranking Black woman in a U.S. medical school when she served as an associate dean at New York Medical College. Dr. Wright’s contributions revolutionized cancer treatment, expanded chemotherapy options, and paved the way for future Black physicians in oncology.
Changing the Face of Medicine. (2015). Dr. Jane Cooke Wright. U.S. National Library of Medicine. https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_336.html
National Breast Cancer Foundation. (2021). Dr. Jane C. Wright’s powerful legacy of firsts. https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/blog/dr-jane-c-wrights-powerful-legacy-of-firsts/
Patrice Briggs-Ngang
Contact Me
%202.png){kind=spacer}