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The Wood papers are comprised almost entirely of typescript or manuscript drafts of papers and lectures he gave during his career.
History and Biography
Pathologist and noted authority on cancer. Wood was born December 30, 1869 to Henry and Annie Carter Wood in Columbus, Ohio. He received his B.S. from the Ohio State University in 1891 and his medical degree in 1894 from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S).
After an internship at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City and study abroad in Berlin and Vienna, Wood returned to New York where he was appointed Pathologist to St. Luke’s and Assistant in pathology at P&S. He spent the rest of his career at both institutions. Wood became Attending Physician and Director of both the Pathological Laboratory and the Department of Radiotherapy at St. Luke’s, where he remained a consultant at his death.
At Columbia he was named the first Director of the Crocker Special Research Fund in 1912, founded by bequest of the western railroad millionaire, George Crocker, to investigate the causes of cancer. It would later be called the Institute for Cancer Research and is the ancestor of Columbia’s Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. As Director of Crocker until his retirement in 1940, Wood became one of the country’s leading experts on cancer research. He was editor of the American Journal of Cancer; author of Cancer: Nature, Diagnosis, and Cure (1923; 2nd edition 1937) along with many scientific articles; and noted speaker on the subject to both professional and lay audiences. He was a pioneer in the use of radiation treatment for cancer and became friends with Marie Curie; Wood was one of the principle organizers of the fundraising effort that purchased the gram of radium that President Warren Harding presented to Curie during her 1921 tour of the United States.
Wood died January 5, 1951 in Englewood, New Jersey.
Organization
The Wood papers are comprised almost entirely of typescript or manuscript drafts of papers and lectures he gave during his career. Although the bulk of them relate to cancer, they cover a variety of medical and scientific topics including “The Changing Place of the Hospital in the Community” and “The Durable Satisfactions of Science.” Most are not dated but internal evidence suggests they cover Wood’s entire career, circa 1900 to 1940. Besides these, there is a 1915 report he did for a Lakeside Hospital (possibly Cleveland’s, but not positively identified); a report of the activities of Columbia’s Vanderbilt Clinic, 1907-1913; correspondence and a report relating to planning for the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center; and a brief history of radiation therapy at St. Luke’s Hospital. There is also a bound volume of his medical articles, though it’s not known how complete it is.
Subject Headings and Related Records
Administrative Information
Gift of Carter Wiseman, grandson, 2014 (accession #2014.011).
Processed and finding aid written by Stephen E. Novak, 2019.