During his internship in 1961, the author sent letters of inquiry asking which
centers in the United States provided a residency program in cancer medicine and what
kind of training was offered. The answers were unexpected. Not only did these simple
questions appear to be difficult to answer, but one reply indicated that a cancer
specialist was a non-entity! The author briefly describes the training he received from
two of his mentors, Dr. Georges Mathé in France, and Dr. James F. Holland in the
United States, exemplifying what existed at the time when the methodology of clinical
trials was being developed and the experimental bases of chemotherapy were being
conceived and tested within the setting of cooperative oncology groups.
Keywords: Training in cancer medicine, clinical trials, experimental chemotherapy.
