Introduction to Understanding and Background

Most of this section of the module is student reading. The first reading Cancer Chemotherapy: A Timeline introduces the history of cancer chemotherapy within the context of the broader history of medicine and disease. Many of the historical references will probably be new to your students, even the ones who have taken a world history course. The second reading is more specific. Cancer Chemotherapy: A Chemical Needle in A Haystack focuses on the search for compounds that could be used to treat cancer. The emphasis is on the chemical substances in this reading.

The third reading, about Gertrude Elion, enables students to get to know one of the more important pharmaceutical achievers in cancer chemotherapy history. Elion was chosen as the subject of this extended biographical timeline—called a "lifeline," because Elion often said that her work was about saving lives—for her major contributions to cancer chemotherapy and because the role of women in science is too often overlooked. The shorter biography of George Hitchings is included because of his long collaboration with Elion, and because Paul Ehrlich's work was so influential on later research (like that of Hitchings and Elion), his biography is also included.

There are numerous activities that you can use to engage students in addition to simply assigning reading. In the "pop-up box" that accompanies the readings there are ideas on how to use the richness of the histories and biographies to motivate your students to become involved in the history and to get to know the Pharmaceutical Achievers.

The readings in this section of the module include:

Cancer Chemotherapy: A Timeline
Cancer Chemotherapy: A Chemical Needle in a Haystack
Gertrude Belle Elion: A Lifeline
George Hitchings: Pharmaceutical Achiever
Paul Ehrlich: Pharmaceutical Achiever