Honoring Dr. Jane Cooke Wright

Monday, February 3, 2025

The Oregon Clinic

During Black History Month we are sharing a series on black medical innovators who changed America.

Dr. Jane Cooke Wright (1919-2013) was a groundbreaking cancer researcher and oncologist. Dr. Wright developed techniques for using chemical agents to destroy cancer cells and was instrumental in proving the effectiveness of methotrexate in treating breast and skin cancers. Her leadership in chemotherapy research laid critical groundwork for modern cancer treatment protocols.

Born in New York City in 1919, Jane Cooke Wright was the first of two daughters born to Corrine (Cooke) and Dr. Louis Wright. Her father was one of the first African American graduates of Harvard Medical School, and he set a high standard for his daughters.

In 1949, when chemotherapy was still mostly experimental, she joined her father at Harlem Hospital to investigate anti-cancer chemicals. Dr. Louis Wright worked in the lab and Dr. Jane Wright would perform the patient trials. Following Dr. Louis Wright’s death in 1952, Dr. Jane Wright was appointed head of the Cancer Research Foundation, at the age of 33.

As one of the few women of color in medical research during her time, she became the first woman elected to the New York Cancer Society and was a founding member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. In 1955, Dr. Wright became an associate professor of surgical research at New York University and director of cancer chemotherapy research at New York University Medical Center and its affiliated Bellevue and University hospitals.

In 1967 she became professor of surgery, head of the cancer chemotherapy department, and associate dean at New York Medical College. At a time when African American women physicians numbered only a few hundred in the entire United States, she was the highest ranked African American woman at a nationally recognized medical institution.

In 1971, Dr. Jane Wright became the first woman president of the New York Cancer Society. After a long and fruitful career of cancer research, she retired in 1987 and passed away on February 19, 2013.