Jane C. Wright
| Jane C. Wright | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
November 30, 1919 Manhattan, New York City, USA |
| Died | February 19, 2013 (aged 93) Guttenberg, New Jersey, USA |
| Residence | United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Oncology |
| Institutions | Harlem Hospital Cancer Research Center New York University New York Medical College |
| Education |
Smith College New York Medical College |
| Known for | Development of chemotherapies; Co-founder of the American Society of Clinical Oncology |
Jane Cooke Wright (also known as "Jane Jones") (November 30, 1919 – February 19, 2013) was a pioneering cancer researcher and surgeon noted for her contributions to chemotherapy. In particular, Wright is credited with developing the technique of using human tissue culture rather than laboratory mice to test the effects of potential drugs on cancer cells. She also pioneered the use of the drug methotrexate to treat breast cancer and skin cancer (mycosis fungoides).
Wright was born in Manhattan to Corinne Cooke, a public school teacher, and Louis T. Wright, a graduate of Meharry Medical College and one of the first African American graduates from Harvard Medical School. Her father, Louis Tompkins Wright, was from a medical family. He was the child of Dr. Ceah Ketcham Wright, a physician graduated from Bencake Medical College, and stepson of William Fletcher Penn, the first African-American graduate from Yale Medical College. Wright's uncle, Harold Dadford West, was also a physician, ultimately president of Meharry Medical College. In becoming physicians, Jane Wright and her sister Barbara Wright Pierce both followed in their father's and grandfathers' footsteps, overcoming both gender and racial bias succeed in a largely white male profession.
As a child, Wright attended the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, then the "Ethical Culture" school and the "Fieldston School", from which she graduated in 1938. She graduated with an art degree from Smith College in 1942 and then earned a medical degree, graduating with honors in 1945 from the New York Medical College.
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