Jane C. Wright (1919-2013) revolutionized cancer treatments and was the highest ranked African-American woman in medicine, at a time when doctors who looked like her numbered in the hundreds, and the field was dominated by white men.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan, and this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
This month’s final STEMinist revolutionized the way we treat cancer. She became the highest ranked African-American woman in medicine, at a time when doctors who looked like her numbered in the hundreds, and the field was dominated by white men.
Let’s talk about Jane C. Wright.
Jane Cooke Wright was born in New York City in 1919, into what can only be called a medical dynasty.
Her grandfather, who was born enslaved, graduated from Meharry Medical College. Her step-grandfather was the first African-American to graduate from Yale Medical School. And her father, Dr. Louis T. Wright, was one of the first Black students to earn a degree from Harvard Medical School -- and the first Black doctor appointed to a New York City public hospital. He would go on to found the Cancer Research Center at Harlem Hospital, in 1947. Oh! And we can’t forget about Jane’s sister, Barbara. She became a doctor, too.
Jane attended Smith College, with hopes of becoming an artist. At the -- unsurprising -- urging of her father, Jane changed her major to pre-med, and immediately began to shine. She earned a full ride to New York Medical College. She was voted vice president of her class, and graduated in just three years -- with honors.
She then interned at Bellevue Hospital, before completing her surgical residency at Harlem Hospital in 1948.
The next year, in 1949, Jane joined her father at Harlem Hospital’s Cancer Research Center. Louis worked in the lab, while Jane ran the patient trials. Together, they began to explore chemotherapeutic agents.
At that time, chemotherapy -- which uses drugs to kill cancer cells -- was still in experimental stages, and was considered a last resort for treatment. Dosage and drug combinations were largely undefined.
The Doctors Wright were one of the first groups to report remission results in patients with cancers like Hodgkin’s disease and lymphoma. Blood cancers like these had previously been considered a death sentence. Jane would later call chemotherapy the Cinderella of cancer treatments, for its ability to treat a wide range of otherwise terminal conditions.
Next, the Wrights tackled folic acid antagonists. Our cells need folic acid to help make certain amino acids -- the building blocks of proteins and purines. Purines are a major component in DNA and RNA. It’s why pregnant women take folic acid -- there’s a lot of cell division going on!
But many cancers are driven by unchecked cell growth. The Wrights realized that by using folic acid antagonists, which block the body from producing folic acid, they could, in turn, stop cell processes. Unable to repair themselves, cells would die off. And aggressive tumors could be stopped in their tracks.
In 1951, Jane and her father presented a paper detailing several antifolate treatments. Their findings would ultimately serve as the basis for modern chemotherapy. Their most successful test used Methotrexate. Of the 28 patients dosed with this drug, 10 -- over a third of participants -- showed objective improvement. These results were groundbreaking.
Those 10 patients represented hundreds of thousands of cases that, because of Jane’s work, were suddenly treatable. She gave people their lives back. Even today, Methotrexate is one of the most commonly used chemotherapy drugs.
The next year, in 1952, Jane’s father, Louis, died. And Jane, at just 33 years old, became head of the Cancer Research Foundation.
In 1955, Jane was named Director of Cancer Chemotherapy research at New York University Medical Center. Under her leadership, the program turned towards personalizing treatment. Jane pioneered using biopsies of patient tumors for drug testing, which can help select which drugs work for each particular tumor. This method is the basis for what is today known as precision medicine.
Having started her career in patient trials, Jane dedicated much of her work to exploring the potential of patient-specific cell cultures -- especially for cases that were previously written off as fatal. She also developed a non-surgical procedure that used a catheter to send chemo drugs to previously inaccessible areas, like the kidneys and the spleen. Jane would ultimately publish over 100 papers detailing her research.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed her to the President’s Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke. That same year, Jane and six other oncologists founded the American Society of Clinical Oncology, which aims to provide education, training and clinical research grants to doctors. She was the only woman, and the only African-American, at the founding meeting.
Two years later, in 1966, she began serving on the National Cancer Advisory Board. Access to care -- for all patients -- became a connective tissue throughout much of Jane’s work. The Advisory Board worked to improve communication between hospitals and research departments, improving the overall standard of clinical care. The President’s Commission helped establish Regional Medical Programs, which supported arrangements between medical schools, research institutions and hospitals, allowing for the most advanced clinical treatments to be available nationwide.
In 1967, Jane was named Professor of Surgery, Head of the Cancer Chemotherapy Department and an Associate Dean at New York Medical College. She became the highest ranking Black woman across all American medical institutes. In 1971, she became the first woman President of the New York Cancer Society.
She retired in 1985.
When asked about her research, Jane once said, “There's lots of fun in exploring the unknown. There's no greater thrill than in having an experiment turn out in such a way that you make a positive contribution.”
In that quote, we can see so much of Jane’s power. Not only was she one of the leading physician-scientists of her time, who revolutionized modern oncology, who saw the value in bridging research and medical care, but she was also, always, driven by compassion. She advocated for better care across the country, working to ensure that no matter where a patient lived, they would have access to the latest treatments.
Jane C. Wright died in 2013. She was 93 years old.
All month, we’ve been talking about STEMinists. Tune in tomorrow to hear the first episode of our brand new theme: Local Legends.
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Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!