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One Man, One Disease, and a Medical Revolution
by Paul Marks and James Sterngold
In 1950, a diagnosis of cancer was all but a death sentence. Mortality rates only got worse, and as late as 1986, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine lamented: "We are losing the war against cancer." Cancer is one of humankind's oldest and most persistent enemies; it has been called the existential disease.
But we are now entering a new, and more positive, phase in this long campaign. While cancer has not been cured - and a cure may elude us for a long time yet - there has been a revolution in our understanding of its nature. Years of brilliant science have revealed how this individualistic disease seizes control of the foundations of life - our genes - and produces guerrilla cells that can attack and elude treatments. Armed with those insights, scientists have been developing more effective weapons and producing better outcomes for patients. Paul A. Marks, MD, has been a leader in these efforts to finally control this devastating disease.
Marks helped establish the strategy for the "war on cancer" in 1971 as a researcher and member of President Nixon's cancer panel. As the president and chief executive officer for nineteen years at the world's preeminent cancer hospital, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, he was instrumental in ending the years of futility. He also developed better therapies that promise a new era of cancer containment. Some cancers, like childhood leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, that were once deadly conditions, are now survivable - even curable. New steps in prevention and early diagnosis are giving patients even more hope. On the Cancer Frontier is Marks' account of the transformation in our understanding of cancer and why there is growing optimism in our ability to stop it.
"Starred Review. On a level with Lewis Thomas for its clarity and verve in presenting the science of the cell and the ability of cancer to assume multiple guises." - Kirkus
"[A] sobering panorama of cancer research and treatment... this survey illustrates a doctor's determination to fight for scientific and medical victories that will extend life and hope." - Publishers Weekly
"Ultimately hopeful, [Marks'] On the Cancer Frontier takes hard looks at what we have done and what we can do against a malady that was once an almost certain death sentence." - Barnes and Noble
This information about On the Cancer Frontier was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Paul Marks, MD, led the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for nineteen years and has been an advisor on national cancer policy. He was awarded the President's National Medal of Science, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering has established the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research to recognize promising young scientists.
James Sterngold is a senior special writer for the Wall Street Journal, is a senior writer for the Wall Street Journal, and previously spent eighteen years as a correspondent at the New York Times.
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