Michael B. Sporn
Prevention Pioneer

Michael B. Sporn

By the 1950s cancer researchers knew that by the time cancer appeared, a person's cells had undergone scores of small changes that resulted in the cancer. The overall process is called carcinogenisis. Researchers argued that if they could find substances, natural or synthetic, that could prevent some or all of the critical keys steps in the process, they could reduce the occurrence of cancer.

It was Dr. Michael Sporn who first coined the term chemoprevention in the 1970s as part of his pioneering effort to encourage research into preventing cancer before it begins rather than treating tumors once they appear. "Prevention is ultimately a quality of life issue," he says:

I think it’s very realistic to project that we’ll develop some really exciting preventive modalities. . .we should be able to identify people at risk when they’re young and then do something to intervene—which is utimately going to offer a higher quality of life than waiting until people are actually in trouble. To me, that’s where the excitement is.