Dr Jane Cooke Wright – whether you’ve heard of her or not, her research changed the path of oncology, paving the way for cancer treatment as we know it.

In a time when medicine and research were predominantly white and male, Jane and her family had challenged the preconceptions of what a scientist should be. Jane and her sister, Barbara, represented the third generation of Wright family medics; the tradition began with their grandfather, who, after being born into slavery, later graduated from Meharry Medical College as valedictorian of his class. Their father,Dr Louis Tompkins Wright，是哈佛医学院的第一批非裔美国人毕业生之一，并创立了哈林医院癌症研究基金会（HHCRF）。

After briefly considering the idea of pursuing an art degree, Wright graduated with honors from New York Medical College and in 1949 began working with her father at the HHCRF.

改变癌症治疗的过程

It was at the HHCRF where Dr Wright began to explore the avenue of research that defined her career – chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy wasn’t always one of the “go-to” approaches for cancer treatment. In the early to mid-20^Thcentury, using drugs to treat cancer was considered somewhat experimental, only to be used if other treatment avenues had been exhausted. Despite the hesitant attitudes towards chemotherapeutic agents, Wright and her colleagues made many strides towards establishing chemotherapy as a viable treatment for cancer.

最重要的之一是1951年。赖特（Wright）领导了一项开创性的研究，该研究奠定了化学治疗实体瘤的基础。¹The study primarily established the efficacy of methotrexate, a叶酸拮抗剂, in treating breast cancer, which was a major result in itself. However, it also demonstrated the long-term efficacy of combination therapy and adjustment of treatment regimens according to the individual patient’s symptoms of toxicity. Methotrexate continues to be used to this day, alone or in combination, to treat arange of cancersfrom head and neck to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

根据个人进行调整是一个想法，构成了赖特的大部分研究的基础，代表了迈向个性化医学的一些早期步骤。尽管以前的研究人员使用小鼠肿瘤作为预测对不同化学治疗剂的反应的模型，但赖特和她的同事从患者那里培养了肿瘤组织。生长后，将主要培养物用各种化学治疗剂处理，并评估其反应。在此过程中，赖特（Wright）帮助开发了一种测试和选择对个体患者特定肿瘤的最有效化学疗法的方法。²

肿瘤学领导者

赖特（Wright）想确保她的研究对临床护理产生影响 - 这需要在肿瘤学社区之间进行合作。

该解决方案是在1964年以美国临床肿瘤学会(ASCO), of which Wright was a founding member and notably, the only woman of the founding group. In a 2010 interview, Wright explained why the society was created:

“我们的目标是提出一系列临床肿瘤学专业的标准，以扩大该领域的知识领域，并确保易于获得和传播重要信息。”³

Wright set out to achieve these goals during her tenure as associate dean and professor of surgery at her母校，纽约医学院，制定癌症治疗指南和一项课程，教医生如何使用化学疗法。当时，她任命该职位也是一项重要的社会壮举。1967年上任后，赖特（Wright）成为一家全国认可的医疗机构中排名最高的非洲裔美国妇女。这只是赖特在未来20年中担任的许多高级职位之一。

An example toallscientists

Wright proved wrong those who said it was impossible to have a successful career and a family as a woman; when she retired in 1987, she had authored 135 scientific papers and won multiple awards, whilst raising two daughters. Her enduring dedication to and impact on the field of oncology was such that ASCO’s Young Investigator Award was renamed in her honor.

在2011年interview, Wright’s daughter, Alison W. Jones, PhD, gave an insight into how her mother achieved so much in a time and society which often had preconceptions of what a woman’s life should be. “She never looked at things as obstacles,” Jones explained. “She looked at them as challenges and I think that she was a very ambitious person and I think that she never let anything stand in the way of her doing what she wanted to do.”

References

1. 赖特（J.C.），普里戈特（A.（1951）。对肿瘤疾病的成年人叶酸拮抗剂的评估：对93例无法治愈的肿瘤患者的研究。Journal of the National Medical Association，43（4），211–240。
2. 赖特（J.C.研究临床和组织文化对人类癌症化学治疗剂的关系之间的关系。《新英格兰医学杂志》，257（25），1207–1211。doi：https：//doi.org/10.1056/nejm195712192572502
3. Swain S. M.（2013）。对解决癌症难题的热情：简·库克·赖特（Jane Cooke Wright），医学博士，1919- 2013年。肿瘤学家, 18(6), 646–648. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1634/theoncologist.2013-0139