James Ewing

This article is about the pathologist and oncologist James Ewing. For the evangelist associated with St. Matthew's Churches, see James Eugene Ewing. For the Pennsylvanian Colonial-era politician, see James Ewing.

James Stephen Ewing (December 25, 1866, Pittsburgh — May 16, 1943, New York City) was an American pathologist. He was the first Professor of pathology at Cornell University and became famous with the discovery of a form of malignant bone tumor that later became known as Ewing's sarcoma.

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Life

James Ewing, was born in 1866 to a prominent family of Pittsburgh. He first completed his M.A. in 1888[1]] at Amherst College and then studied medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, from 1888 to 1891. While a student, he was tutored by Francis Delafield (1841-1915), Theophil Mitchell Prudden (1849-1924) and Alexander Kolisko (1857-1918), and developed a strong interest in pathology. He returned to the College of Physicians and Surgeons as instructor in histology (1893-1897), and clinical pathology (1897-1898). After a brief stint as a surgeon with the US Army, Ewing accepted in 1899 a professorship in clinical pathology at the Medical College of Cornell University in New York. His research activities on experimental cancer were mostly pursued at the Loomis Laboratory for Research in Experimental Pathology, together with the New York Memorial Hospital. In 1902, Dr. Ewing helped to establish one of the first funds for cancer research, endowed by P. Huntington. With his discoveries, Ewing became the most important experimental oncologist and helped to found, in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research, and in 1913, the American Society for the Control of Cancer, now the American Cancer Society. In 1931 Ewing was elected to the presidency of the Medical Board of the General Memorial Hospital for the Treatment of Cancer and Allied Diseases, and became also its director or research. He was also responsible for the creation of present-day Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, one of the most important multidisciplinary centers devoted to oncology in the world. He worked at the Memorial until his retirement, in 1939. In 1908 he was president of the Harvey Society.

James Ewing died from bladder cancer at the age of 76.

Works

Ewing was active in many fronts, including hematology as well as oncology. A scientific breakthrough came in 1906, when Ewing and his collaborators proved for the first time that a cancer (lymphosarcoma in dogs) could be transmitted from one animal to another. In 1920 he published his first work on a new kind of malignant osteoma (cancer of the bone), which later received his name. Ewing became known also as one of the first proponents of radiation therapy for cancer, having founded the National Radium Institute in 1913, together with James Douglas, a mining engineer. This knowledge became a cornerstone of cancer treatment at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In 1928 he challenged the 'seed vs soil' hypothesis of metastatic tumor dissemination, originally credited to Stephen Paget and proposed that metastasis occurs purely by anatomic and mechanical routes.

Bibliography

• Zantinga, AR; Coppes, MJ: James Ewing (1866-1943): "the chief". Medical and Pediatric Oncology, New York, 1993, 21 (7): 505-510.
• Huvos, AG: James Ewing: cancer man. Annals of Diagnostic Pathology, April 1998, 2 (2): 146-148.
• Ewing, J: Clinical pathology of Blood: A Treatise on the General Principles and Special Applications of Hematology. Philadelphia and New York, 1901.
• Ewing, J: Neoplastic Diseases: A Textbook on Tumors. Philadelphia, W. B. Saunders, and London, 1919. Fourth edition 1940.
• Ewing, J: Causation, Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer. Baltimore, 1931.
• Ewing, J: Blood. Philadelphia. 1910.