72 Sidney Farber was the son of Polish immigrants who settled in Buffalo, New York. The third of 14 children, Sidney thrived in a family that put a high priority on academic excellence (1). His father, an insurance agent, often brought home textbooks, which the children studied around the dinner table. They were as fluent in German as in English and prepared detailed reports from the textbooks for their father’s inspection.
Reprinted with permission from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
sense of humor and a fondness for mystery novels (1, 2, 4). His bedside manner was compassionate, and with children, he showed a grandfatherly gentleness (4). But he could be obstinate, argumentative, and “devastatingly objective” (1, 2). “He never looked for a fight, but he never dodged one” (1). His gentle voice was persuasive, and he excelled at separating fact from “fuzzy thinking,” a mental discipline he imprinted on his trainees and junior faculty (1, 2). In his lucid pathology lectures, Farber enlivened an otherwise dry anatomic and histologic recitation by emphasizing the dynamic biological events that occur during human disease (2). His 1937 book on autopsies, The Postmortem Examination, remains a classic. Like his personal appearance, Farber’s 9 x 12 foot pathology laboratory in the basement of The Children’s Hospital was the epitome of precision and tidiness (2). He had an unparalleled work ethic, and during his first two decades at The Children’s Hospital, Farber made a number of important contributions to pathology. He called attention to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and was among the first to report that encephalitis in infants and children was caused by the Eastern equine virus (1). Along with his associates, he described cystic fibrosis as a generalized disorder, drew attention to hyaline membrane disease in newborns, and defined many of the enzymatic abnormalities associated with celiac syndrome and pancreatic insufficiency (1, 2).
The young Dr. Sidney Farber (1947)
From Pathologist to Chemotherapist Sidney worked his way through the University of Buffalo studying biology and philosophy by day and playing violin in music halls at night. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1923 and began medical school at the Universities of Heidelberg and Freiburg in Germany (1). The next year, he secured a seat at Harvard Medical School and graduated in 1927 (1, 2). Farber then trained in pathology at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. By 1929 and at the age of 26, he had become the first full-time pathologist at The Children’s Hospital in Boston and was also appointed instructor in pathology at Harvard Medical School (2, 3). Even as a student, Farber conveyed a European stateliness. He stood a commanding six feet tall and was always impeccably attired (1, 4). His diction was precise and deliberate, and he addressed his colleagues formally by title (1, 2, 4). Those who knew him well enjoyed the friendship of a warm, considerate, and generous man with a sly
Reprinted from The Pharmacologist • December 2015
In 1946, Farber became Chairman of the Division of Laboratories and Research at The Children’s Hospital and in 1947 was named pathologist-in-chief. In 1948, he was appointed professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School. During this time, still working out of his small basement laboratory, Farber began focusing his attention on leukemia, a rare but invariably fatal childhood cancer. Life expectancy for children with acute leukemia usually extended only a few weeks after the onset of symptoms (1, 5).
Life expectancy for children with acute leukemia usually extended only a few weeks after the onset of symptoms. Leukemia had been shunted to a no-man’s-land between hematology and oncology, and little was