Janet Rowley

Janet Rowley was a pioneering cancer cytogeneticist who discovered that chromosomal translocations are the molecular basis of several leukemias. She identified the t(8;21), t(15;17), and inv(16) translocations in acute myeloid leukemia, demonstrating that specific chromosomal rearrangements define distinct leukemia subtypes. Her insight that the Philadelphia chromosome was a translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22 — not a deletion — was pivotal and ultimately led to the development of imatinib (Gleevec). Her discoveries founded the field of molecular cancer cytogenetics.