The Wall Street Journal-20080125-Cancer Pioneer Recalled
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Cancer Pioneer Recalled
I recall the first time I met Dr. Judah Folkman ("Remembrances", Jan. 19). It was in his laboratory at Harvard in 1972. He had just returned from the operating room where he had operated on two children with terminal cancer. He lost one of them on the operating table. His first words to me were, "One day I must be able to spare 'my children' the ordeal of the scalpel and sponge." He had just begun his pioneering work on angiogenesis and the Monsanto Co. was offering to finance his work.
Today, the many that are continuing his work on angiogenesis are working in his shadow.
Constantine E. Anagnostopoulos
Retired Corporate Officer
Monsanto Co.
Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
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Dr. Folkman's discoveries created a paradigm shift in cancer treatment which has led to the creation of a revolutionary multibillion-dollar drug that has significantly impacted the survival of cancer patients. Many of us in the academic medical community have long noted with surprise his annual absence from the rolls of the Nobel Foundation.
Peter S. Galatin, MD, Ph.D.
Clinical Fellow, Oncology/
Hematology
Stanford University
School of Medicine
Stanford, Calif.
