Dr. Folkman's War: Angiogenesis and the Struggle to Defeat Cancer

This book clearly deserves many more than five stars. Dr. Folkman's War contains many valuable insights including how to: Raise children to be outstanding people; be an astute observer about nature to unlock new lessons; pioneer in a new field of science; and be persistent about something important. When the history of medicine in the twentieth century is written, Dr. Judah Folkman will be considered one of the most important figures. This book is the most accessible and complete source of information about his remarkable life and accomplishments.Dr. Folkman's research to date "has found applications in twenty-six diseases as varied as cancer, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, psoriasis, arthritis, and endometriosis." "Ordinarily, researchers working in any of these fields do not communicate with each other." Angiogenesis looks at the way that capillaries are formed in response to the body's biochemistry to help and harm health. Tumors depend on this action to get the blood supply they need to grow. Wounds also rely on a similar mechanism to grow scar tissue. I have been following Dr. Folkman's career for over twenty-five years, and heard him speak about angiogenesis just a little over two years ago. Because I felt I was well-informed, I almost skipped this book. That would have been a major mistake on my part. Dr. Folkman's War contained much new and interesting information that helped me to better understand the lessons of Dr. Folkman's life, as well as the future implications of angiogenesis.Unknown to me, Dr. Folkman had also played a role as an innovator in implantable pacemakers, time-released drug implants, and specialized types of heart surgery before he began his serious assault on angiogenesis. The discoveries had their beginning in 1961 when he was a draftee in a Navy lab in Bethesda, Maryland. He noticed that tumors could not grow unless they first recruited their own capillaries to bring an increased blood supply. "Over time, he convinced himself that there had to be some way to block the growth of those blood vessels." He was right, but it took a long time before he knew any of the answers.In brief opening comments about the book, former surgeon general C. Everett Koop, M.D. and Sc.D. observed how this new science evolved. "In the 1970s, laboratory scientists didn't believe any of it." " . . . [T]he critics' objections were hushed for good in 1989." "In the 1990s, the criticisms came chiefly from the clinical side, and the pharmaceutical companies didn't want anything to do with angiogenesis."The story is a very heart-warming one. Dr. Folkman's father was a rabbi who asked each member of the family each night what she or he had learned that day. He also constantly implored his son to "Be a credit to your people." His father clearly thought that Dr. Folkman would also become a rabbi. Having announced his attention to become a physician, his father told him, "You can be a rabbi-like doctor." Th

When I first started reading the book I thought it was going to be more about Dr. Folkman's life and not about medicine. You quickly realize there is no difference as far as Dr. Flokman is concerned. Medicine has been his life and fortunately for us cancer research his passion. I was stunned to find out he has helped discover; cardiac pacemakers, drug release systems and a cure for an incurable childhood disease all while being a world-renowned pediatric surgeon. These life saving stories will bring tears to your eyes. All this alone would make for a great book without ever mentioning angiogenisis. However, the quest for a major cancer treatment while putting up with the critics and red tape read like a major military battle through which this man has prevailed. You will feel his passion.

Robert Cooke does an amazing job of rendering what could have been a dense scientific discussion of anti-angiogenesis and its role in treating cancer, into an engaging and meaningful discussion that someone without a medical background can easily understand. Cooke aptly chronicles Folkman's career ups and downs, and ably captures the doctor's frustration of being a scientist two decades ahead of his time. The real message in this book, however, is one of triumph in the face of scorn and ridicule. That Folkman's peers - be they colleagues at Boston's Children's Hospital who sought to have him ousted from his position as Chief of Surgery or to have his laboratory closed, or the anonymous reviewers at the medical journals where he submitted his papers describing his thoughts and findings in anti-angiogenesis who refused to publish his work finding it too implausible, or the conference attendees who would simply walk out of one of his scientific lectures thinking he was a crackpot - could subject him to so much difficulty in pursuing his scientific vision speaks volumes about how we, even in this modern era when we are supposedly more open minded, have trouble dealing with a visionary. Most of us, in Folkman's shoes, would have moved on to something else.Now that Folkman's ideas have come of age - science finally possesses the tools to validate his work and we are seeing the fruits in clinical trials around the country - I truly hope that his early critics will have the courage to acknowledge their error. As Cooke reminds us, genius can be very hard to recognize. Now that it is upon us, however, shame on those who continue to diminish it. This book is ideal for anyone possessing a fascination with science or medicine, anyone who appreciates stories of personal triumph, or anyone who is interested in how insight can be mistaken for heresy. Furthermore, as someone whose family has been touched by cancer, I found the book to be incredibly insightful in understanding the disease. Cooke's writing is clear and concise, and the Folkman story is incredibly engaging.

I'm in med school, and I've heard a lot about Dr. Folkman, so I was curious to read why he's so mythologized. Now I know! This is an inspiring book -- it reminded me how hard you have to work, how brilliant you have to be, and how lucky you have to be just to have a CHANCE to make a huge difference. Dr. Folkman was all three. THe author does a real service, too, in explaining the history of cancer research -- not easy to do in an engaging yet substantive way.