Jane Cooke Wright

Dr. Jane Cooke Wright was a remarkable woman who analyzed different anti-cancer agents and developed techniques for administering chemotherapy. 

During her career, Jane Wright accomplished several significant developments. She graduated from New York Medical College with honors in 1945 and then proceeded to intern as an assistant resident in internal medicine at Bellevue Hospital. She formally completed her residency at Harlem Hospital. Later in her career, Dr. Wright worked as a physician with the New York City Public Schools system, but later left to join her father, who was another remarkable doctor and was the director of the Cancer Research Foundation at Harlem Hospital. 

At the time, chemotherapy was an experimental procedure and Dr. Wright's father was working on focusing research towards investigating anti-cancer agents. Dr. Jane Wright helped her father conduct this research by performing patient trials. Dr. Jane Wright's work here led to the understanding of the use of methotrexate in breast cancer treatments. This was monumental, and laid a foundation for future treatments with chemotherapy. 

She was determined to make sure that her research had a clinical impact, and to bridge this gap between research and clinical care, Dr. Wright became a founding member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (the only woman in the founding group). The goal of this group is to set standards in clinical oncology and make research readily available. In 1967, Dr. Jane Wright became professor of surgery, head of the Cancer Chemotherapy department, and associate dean at New York Medical College – the highest ranked African American woman at a nationally recognized medical institution.


-Disha