Sidney Farber

Sidney Farber achieved the first remissions in childhood leukemia using the antifolate aminopterin in 1947, launching the field of cancer chemotherapy. His discoveries demonstrated for the first time that systemic drug treatment could reduce cancer burden, establishing the conceptual framework for all subsequent chemotherapy development. He co-founded the Jimmy Fund and Children's Cancer Research Foundation (now Dana-Farber Cancer Institute), creating one of the world's preeminent cancer centers. His work transformed pediatric oncology from an invariably fatal disease to one where many children can be cured.