Memoir

Henry S. Kaplan

Stanford University

April 24, 1918 - February 4, 1984


Scientific Discipline: Medical Genetics, Hematology, and Oncology
Membership Type:
Member (elected 1972)

Oncologist Henry S. Kaplan made major contributions to our understanding of cancer and to its treatment. He was a pioneer in the advancement of radiation therapy as a treatment for some cancers. Along with colleague Edward Ginzton, Kaplan adapted the electron linear accelerator (typically used by atomic physicists at the time) so it could be used for medical use. This invention made it possible to precisely direct radiation at the diseased area in order to prevent any permanent damage to other surrounding organs (which drastically reduced the possibility of sterility from radio therapy). By combining chemotherapy and his innovative radiation therapy, Kaplan made Hodgkin’s disease, a previously untreatable cancer that attacked the lymphatic system, one of the most curable forms of cancer. Despite the significance of this oncological breakthrough, his most important discovery dealt with the biology of cancer in mice. He found that leukemia and cancer in the lymphatic systems of the mice resulted from a dormant virus that activated when it was exposed to radiation or chemicals that suppressed the immune system. This research laid the foundation for the modern understanding and treatment of cancers.

Kaplan earned his B.S. degree in 1938 from the University of Chicago and then his M.D. degree from Rush Medical College two years later. In 1944, he received his M.S. degree in radiology from the University of Minnesota. From 1945 to 1947, Kaplan was an instructor and eventually an associate professor at the Yale University School of Medicine’s Department of Radiology. In 1948, he accepted a position as chairman of Stanford University School of Medicine’s Department of Radiology, and he held the position until 1972 when he received the Maureen Lyles D’Ambrogio professorship at Stanford University Medical Center. Three years later, he became the director of Stanford’s Cancer Biology Research Laboratory. In 1969, he became the only physician to receive the Atoms for Peace Prize. He was also the first radiologist to be elected to The National Academy of Science in 1972, and in the same year, he received the Annual National Award of the American Cancer Society. Kaplan became the first recipient of the Charles F. Kettering Prize from the General Motors’ Cancer Research Foundation in 1979.

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