Cornelius P. Rhoads

Cornelius P. Rhoads
Rhoads in 1943
Born
Cornelius Packard Rhoads

(1898-06-20)June 20, 1898
Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedAugust 13, 1959(1959-08-13) (aged 61)
Stonington, Connecticut, U.S.
Alma materBowdoin College
Harvard University
AwardsLegion of Merit
Walker Prize
Clement Cleveland Medal Katherine Berkin Judd Award
Scientific career
FieldsOncology, pathology, hematology
InstitutionsRockefeller University
Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology

Cornelius Packard "Dusty" Rhoads (June 9, 1898 – August 13, 1959) was an American pathologist, oncologist, and hospital administrator who was involved in a racist scandal and subsequent whitewashing in the 1930s. Beginning in 1940, he served as director of Memorial Hospital for Cancer Research in New York, from 1945 was the first director of Sloan-Kettering Institute, and the first director of the combined Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center. For his contributions to cancer research, Rhoads was featured on the cover of the June 27, 1949, issue of Time magazine under the title "Cancer Fighter".[1]

During his early years with the Rockefeller Institute in the 1930s, Rhoads specialized in anemia and leukemia, working for six months in Puerto Rico in 1932 as part of the Rockefeller Foundation International Health Board contingent. During World War II, he worked for the United States Army helping to develop chemical weapons and set up research centers. Research on mustard gas led to developments for its use in chemotherapy at Sloan Kettering.

In early 1932, a letter Rhoads had written in November 1931, which disparaged Puerto Ricans and makes claims (which he referred to later as jokes) he had intentionally injected cancer cells into his patients, was given by a lab assistant to Puerto Rican nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos. He publicized the letter in the Puerto Rican and American media, which led to a scandal, an official investigation,[2] and a US whitewashing campaign to protect Rhoads and, by extension, Rockefeller interests.[3] In the ensuing investigation, Rhoads defended himself, saying he had written his comments in anger and as a joke to a New York colleague.[4] Neither Puerto Rico's Attorney General nor the medical community found evidence of his or the project's giving any inappropriate medical treatment, and the scandal was forgotten.[5][2]

In 2002, the controversy was revived. Alerted to the incident, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), which had established the Cornelius P. Rhoads Memorial Award in 1979,[6] commissioned a new investigation.[3] It was led by Jay Katz, emeritus professor at Yale Law School and a specialist in medical ethics. He concluded there was no evidence of unethical human experimentation, but the letter was so offensive that the prize should be renamed. AACR concurred and stripped the honor from Rhoads because of his racism.[2]

  1. ^ "Frontal Attack - TIME". 2007-07-12. Archived from the original on 2007-07-12. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Starr was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Rosenthal, Eric T. (2003-09-10). "The Rhoads Not Given: The Tainting of the Cornelius P. Rhoads Memorial Award". Oncology Times. 25 (17): 19–20. doi:10.1097/01.COT.0000290560.69715.bf. ISSN 0276-2234. S2CID 76355659.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lederer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference clear was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Packard was invoked but never defined (see the help page).