The Death of Cancer
Dr. Vincent T. DeVita Jr., the Amy and Joseph Perella Professor of Medicine and professor of epidemiology, and Elizabeth DeVita-Raeburn
(Sarah Crichton Books)
In his 50-year career, Dr. Vincent T. DeVita Jr. has held nearly every major position in the field of cancer study. He developed the first successful chemotherapy treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a breakthrough the American Society of Clinical Oncologists called the top research advance in half-a-century of chemotherapy. As one of oncology’s leading figures, DeVita knows what cancer looks like from the lab bench and the bedside. This book is a personal look at the science and the history of one of the world’s most formidable diseases.
“The Death of Cancer” is also a personal tale about the false starts and major breakthroughs, the strong-willed oncologists who clashed with conservative administrators (and one another), and the courageous patients whose willingness to test cutting-edge research helped those oncologists find potential treatments. DeVita believes that we’re well on our way to curing cancer but that there are things we need to change in order to get there. Mortality rates are declining, but America’s cancer patients are still being shortchanged, he contends, by timid doctors, by misguided national agendas, by compromised bureaucracies, and by a lack of access to information about the strengths and weaknesses of the nation’s cancer centers.