In 1981, history professor James Olson was diagnosed with epitheliod sarcoma and in 2000, with brain cancer. As a cancer patient, he endured radiation therapy, chemotherapy, brain surgery, and amputation of his left forearm. He uses his own ordeal as an illustrative example in Making Cancer History, a meticulous history of the institution where he was treated: the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Olson combines biographies of prominent M.D. Anderson personalities with the global histories of cancer research and treatment to show how advancements in basic science and patient care have reduced suffering and extended lives. Although he renounces any claim to being dispassionate about the institution that saved his life, Olson tells the story as a historian, not omitting the failures and controversies that must accompany any mission as ambitious as curing cancer.
Since its establishment in 1941, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center has followed the philosophy of “treat to cure,” which is echoed in their current mission: “to eliminate cancer in Texas, the nation, and the world.” One of its first presidents, R. Lee Clark, made plans to repurpose the center should a cure for cancer be found within the decade. Such optimism seems incredible, but the progress Olson documents is a testament to the vision of the early pioneers. At the time of the center’s founding, the standard cancer treatment was radical surgery, which removed the tumor, surrounding tissue and lymph nodes, and often involved amputation. In the years that followed, M.D. Anderson sought to replace radical surgery with minimally invasive treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy and became a world leader in cancer prevention and investigation of environmental cancer causes.
Through its almost 70-year history, M.D. Anderson has been headed by only four individuals, and Olson's book is largely organized around the administrative eras represented by these four men. From this emphasis on leadership emerges one of the book’s central themes: Discovery does not happen in isolation, it is a product of institutional culture which is itself the product of inspired leaders. The administration quickly recognized that treatment of such a complex disease requires two-way interaction between scientists trying to understand the disease and clinicians who have to face the human side of cancer. The institutional structure has been continuously adjusted to maintain a collaborative, multidisciplinary environment. Even Olson's occasional diversions into dry details such as hospital finance and Texas university politics illustrate the multiple levels on which events and individuals shape an institution.
Although Making Cancer History appears to present a limited scope — the history of a single hospital and its people — Olson’s “biography” shows M.D. Anderson both as a microcosm for the worldwide progress against cancer and a model for the development of a successful medical institution. His story puts the individual struggle against cancer into a larger context, celebrating the courage of survivors, medical professionals, and scientists throughout history.