Making Cancer History

The history of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center vividly reveals how cancer treatment in America—and our attitudes toward the disease—has changed since the middle of the twentieth century.

One of the preeminent cancer centers in the world, M. D. Anderson is also one of the first medical institutions devoted exclusively to caring for people with cancer and researching treatments and cures for the disease. Historian James S. Olson’s narrative relates the story of the center’s founding and of the surgeons, radiologists, radiotherapists, nurses, medical oncologists, scientists, administrators, and patients who built M. D. Anderson into the world-class institution it is today.

Through interviews with M. D. Anderson’s leaders and patients, Olson brings to life the struggle to understand and treat cancer in America. A cancer survivor who has himself been treated at the center, Olson imbues this history with humor, passion, and humanity.