Jane Cooke Wright
Oncologist who moved chemotherapy from last resort to protocol
At a glance
- Inventor
- Jane Cooke Wright
- Life
- 1919–2013
- Birthplace
- New York City
- Country
- United States
- Region
- United States
- Era
- 1950–2000
- Fields
- Medicine & Health
- Evidence
- Documented
- Records
- 1 in this archive
What they did
Wright ran patient trials of chemotherapeutic agents against solid tumours at a time when surgery and radiation were considered the only serious options, and developed methods of testing drugs against a patient's own tumour tissue.
Historical context
She succeeded her father as director of the Harlem Hospital Cancer Research Foundation in 1952, and later became associate dean at New York Medical College — then the highest post held by a Black woman at an American medical school.
The legacy
She was a founding member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and helped establish the clinical-trial culture that governs cancer treatment today.
The evidence
Jane C. Wright biographical file and Harlem Hospital research records
Primary recordFounding members record
Institutional record
Documentation strength
- 2
- Sources
- 1
- Primary
- 2
- Publishers
Calculated from the sources actually attached to this record — the closer a source sits to the original document, the more it counts. It is never asserted by hand.
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