Crocker Institute of Cancer Research
The Crocker Institute of Cancer Research (also known in its early days as the Crocker Fund for Cancer Research) was established at Columbia in 1912 with a 1 million dollar gift from the estate of wealthy Californian George Crocker, who had died of cancer in December of 1909.[1] The gift was made in the form of property, 1 East 64th Street, which was subsequently tied up in litigation brought by Crocker's step-children who alleged that they'd been defrauded of their interest in the property by Crocker.[2][3][4]
Crocker's gift stipulated that funds be used only for research, and that none of it be be used to erect a building. As a result the Institute originally took up residence in Schermerhorn Hall with the Zoology Department. By December 1913 the Institute had its own space in the $40,000 3 story Crocker Research Laboratory on the empty parcel on the northeast corner of 116th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.
The Institute's first director was Francis Carter Wood.[5] Wood fought to use the funding for experimental research as opposed to the then-prevalent method of clinical studies. One of the major innovations to come out of the Crocker Institute was the use of laboratory rats for testing.
The research fund was badly damaged as a result of the stock market crash of 1929, and when Wood entered semi-retirement in 1936, cancer research was moved to the College of Physicians and Surgeons' new Department of Cancer Research.[6] An source without citations suggests that work was still being done in the Research Laboratory until 1941 when a colony of rats was shipped off to Detroit to make space for Manhattan Project related work.[7]
Today, Columbia's cancer research is carried out at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, which makes a passing reference to the Crocker Institute on its website.
External Links
- Cancer Research Fails to Find Cure; Tests in Crocker Laboratories Show So-Called Remedies Are Without Effect, New York Times, Page 11, 13 December 1915.
- New Aid In Cancer Fight Discovered; Way Found at Columbia to Produce Disease Simultaneously in Many White Rats, New York Times, Page 15, 25 March 1921.
References
- ↑ The reports of the amount vary to as high as a 1.6 to 2.5 million
- ↑ ATTACK $1,000,000 CANCER CURE GIFT; George Crocker's Step-Children Say He Defrauded Them of the Property Left to Columbia, New York Times, September 22, 1910
- ↑ The Laboratory Rat, by Mark A. Suckow, Steven H. Weisbroth, Craig L. Franklin Pg. 26-28
- ↑ Millions for Cancer, Time Magazine, July 5, 1937
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ The Laboratorty Rat, pg. 27
- ↑ Karmanos Cancer Institute - History of Achievements Fighting Cancer for More than 60 Years "1941: The United States goes to war. Cancer efforts across the country suffer setbacks as budgetary priorities are given to the military. The Manhattan Project takes over the Crocker Laboratory for Cancer Research at Columbia University, displacing a valuable colony of rats bred for research. The colony is moved to Michigan and later becomes the primary asset of the Detroit Institute for Cancer Research."
