Tribute to the ’matriarch of modern cancer genetics’ on World Chronic Myeloid leukemia Day

World Chronic Myeloid leukemia Day is celebrated on September 22, every year to raise awareness about chronic myeloid leukemias (CML).

Do anyone know why World CML day is celebrated on this day?

It is September 22, so if you write in numbers, it is 9/22, the chromosomal translocation seen in CML. 

International Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Foundation (iCMLf) is established by a group of hematologists who had a common interest in CML. They collaborate with various patient groups and help physicians and scientists who are managing and doing research in CML. (https://www.cml-foundation.org/about-us/the-icmlf.html)

On this day, I take pleasure in writing about the “matriarch of modern cancer genetics”, Dr.Janet Davison Rowley who is one of my inspirations in the field of research.

Dr. Janet unlocked the Rosetta stone to modern cancer genetics.

Dr.Janet Davison Rowley was born on April 5, 1925 in New York City. Her parents were Hurford and Ethel Ballantyne Davison, they were both teachers. Her father had masters in business administration degree from Harvard Business School, mother had masters in education from Columbia university. Her family moved to Chicago when Janet was two years old.

In 1940, she got a scholarship to the Hutchins College at the University of Chicago. This scholarship allowed students to combine the last two years of high school with the first two years of college. Because of this accelerated program, Rowley got a bachelor degree in philosophy at the age of 19. In 1944, she got admission into the University of Chicago’s medical school. But she entered into the program nine months later as the quota of three women in the class of 65 students was filled already. In those days, even in United States, they admitted only 3 women in 65 students, so imagine how difficult it is to get an admission.

She received her medical degree in 1948 and married her classmate, Donald Rowley, a day after graduation. Donald Rowley was working as professor of pathology in the University of Chicago. For the next 20 years, Janet worked part time as she was raising her four sons: Donald, David, Robert and Roger.

She was doing a part time job at a local clinic for children with Down syndrome, which was linked in 1959 to an extra copy of chromosome 21 and Dr.Rowley got fascinated with inherited genetic diseases. In 1961, she accompanied her husband, on a sabbatical at Oxford University. Rowley took the initiative to study chromosomes, in the laboratory of Laszlo Lajitha, a hematologist at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford

When the Rowleys returned to Chicago, Janet had a small salary, which was enough to pay a babysitter.  She was working in the laboratory of Leon Jacobson at the University of Chicago and she began to study chromosomes of people with leukemias.

In 1970, Donald went to Oxford for second sabbatical and here, Janet learnt a new chemical staining technique for identifying chromosomes and started staining of chromosomes of leukemia patients and photographing them. She brought the photographs home, carefully cut out each chromosome and laid them out on her dining table to hunt for abnormalities. She was doing this balancing home making and child caring. She had many hardships, being a wife, being mother of four children and also she managed to work in laboratory. 

In 1972, she spotted her first chromosomal abnormality, pieces of chromosomes 8 and 21 in patients with acute myeloid leukemia had swapped places- something called translocation. Later, she noticed another chromosomal translocation in chronic myeloid leukemia (t 9;22). Then she did a review on current medical research literature and noticed that no one had mentioned these translocations. Janet published her discovery in 1973. But she dint get much appreciation as scientists still believed that chromosomal translocations were a result of cancer and not cause of cancer. Janet came to notice when she identified a third chromosomal translocation (t 15;17) in acute promyelocytic leukemia. 

Do you know at what age she made her discovery?

At the age of 47. She did part time job for 20 years, as she had to take care of her children. She was training herself, learnt the techniques, used the dining table as study table and finally set to all her discoveries in a go…She went on to publish over 500 journal articles.

Is it not inspiring???

For my friends and colleagues, especially females, there might be circumstances when you have to take a break from your career for a short time due to personal reasons or whatever reasons maybe. Please don’t feel bad, please don’t blame yourself,please don’t compare with others,  keep preparing and planning for your future.

Who knows, one day one of us might unlock another Rosetta stone.

Be sincere, work hard with passion and interest and follow your dreams…

We will see more about Dr.Janet Rowley in next post.

References:

Janet Davison Rowley, Cell 156, January 30, 2014

                                                                            Written by Dr.Priyavadhana