Dr. Jane Cooke Wright was a pioneer in chemotherapeutic agents and helped revolutionize cancer research.
She was born on November 20, 1919, to Dr. Louis T. Wright and Corinne Cooke.
The Wright family had a strong history of academic achievement in medicine. Her paternal grandfather was born into slavery, and after the Civil War earned his M.D. at Meharry Medical College. Her step-grandfather was Dr. William Fletcher Penn, the first African American to graduate from Yale Medical College. And Jane’s father, Louis Tompkins Wright, MD, FACS, was among the first black students to earn an M.D. from Harvard Medical School as well as the first African-American doctor appointed to a public hospital in New York City. He went on to found the Cancer Research Center at Harlem Hospital in NYC in 1947, and was a renowned cancer scientist and surgeon.
“What the Negro physician needs is equal opportunity for training and practice—no more, nor less.”
– Dr. Louis Tompkins Wright
Dr. Jane Wright attended Smith College and earned a full scholarship to study medicine at New York Medical College. She graduated with honors in 1945, as part of an accelerated three-year program. She interned at Bellevue Hospital and completed her surgical residency at Harlem Hospital in 1948.
In 1949 Dr. Wright joined her father at the Cancer Research Foundation at Harlem Hospital, where they began research on potential chemotherapeutic agents. Chemotherapy was still mostly experimental at that time. At Harlem Hospital her father had already re-directed the focus of foundation research to investigating anti-cancer chemicals. Dr. Louis Wright worked in the lab and Dr. Jane Wright would perform the patient trials. In 1949, the two began testing a new chemical on human leukemia and cancers of the lymphatic system. Several patients who participated in the trials had some remission. Following Dr. Louis Wright’s death in 1952, Dr. Jane Wright was appointed head of the Cancer Research Foundation, at the age of 33.
In 1955, Dr. Wright became an associate professor of surgical research at NYU and director of cancer chemotherapy research at NYU Medical Center and its affiliated Bellevue and University hospitals. She pioneered efforts in utilizing patient tumor biopsies for drug testing, to help select drugs that may work specifically against a particular tumor, and she was the first to identify methotrexate—one of the foundational chemotherapy drugs—as an effective tool against cancerous tumors.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Dr. Wright to the President’s Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke. Based on the Commission’s report, a national network of treatment centers was established for these diseases. In 1967, she was named professor of surgery, head of the Cancer Chemotherapy Department, and associate dean at New York Medical College, her alma mater.
At a time when African American women physicians numbered only a few hundred in the entire United States, Dr. Wright was the highest ranked African American woman at a nationally recognized medical institution.
She was also the recipient of many awards, including the honorary Doctor of Medical Sciences degree from the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania.
Wright retired in 1985 and was appointed emerita professor at New York Medical College in 1987. She died on February 19, 2013 at the age of 93.
Vaccines help protect babies and young children against 14 serious diseases before their 2nd birthday. Even though you are keeping them safe from diseases, it’s hard to see your children cry when they receive their shots. But you can take some steps before, during and after a vaccine visit to ease the short-term pain and stress of getting shots.
You want to do what is best for your children. You know about the importance of car seats, baby gates and other ways to keep them safe. But did you know that one of the best ways to protect your children is to make sure they have all their vaccinations?
Children in the U.S. still get vaccine-preventable diseases. In fact, there has been a resurgence of whooping cough (pertussis) over the past few years. For example, nearly 18,000 cases of whooping cough were reported in the U.S. in 2016.
Of course, we should never forget why we are actually blessed with this holiday. So we celebrate the birthplace of our nation with cheer, American flags, ceremonies and (of course) fireworks.
For many of us, our lives are so hectic, it feels like we suddenly looked up at the calendar and 2017 is almost over. Thanksgiving is already a week behind us. Halloween was over a month ago. And summer … wow.
So, if you start eating healthier now and slip a little bit as December rolls on, you are still ahead of the game. And there are 
Alzheimer’s Symptoms
In 2016, 15.9 million family and friends provided 18.2 billion hours of unpaid assistance to those with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, a contribution to the nation valued at $230.1 billion.
So, we know the Earth spins on an axis, like a top—giving us night and day. It also revolves around the sun in an elliptical orbit once per year—giving us seasons (with a few exceptions). The moon orbits the earth once every 27.323 days, giving us the different phases from new moon to full moon.
If you are a parent, you know you have a pretty long to-do list for back to school. Just make sure vaccinations are on that list.
But the truth is … they really are the only eyes you have. And if you ever heard her tell you “Don’t stare into the sun, you’ll hurt your eyes,” you can thank her for that one because she was absolutely right.
If you spend a lot of time outdoors in bright sunlight, consider wearing wraparound frames for additional protection from the harmful solar radiation.
Fireworks are no joke. They are not toys and should not be handled by children or even by untrained adults. However, if you (adults) are determined to use fireworks, you must put your safety and the safety of those around you above all else.
There are other ways to celebrate the 4th of July. If you don′t have to stay home, enjoy a public display put on by professionals. If you are hosting a party or invited to one, here are some fun, child-friendly ideas:
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