Filling gaps in trustworthy development of AI.

Incident sharing, auditing, and other concrete mechanisms could help verify the trustworthiness of actors.

"For Jimmy and the boys and girls of America": publicizing childhood cancers in twentieth-century America.

This paper examines a collection of images of children printed in cancer education and fund-raising materials distributed by voluntary health organizations, released by public relations departments of specialized cancer hospitals, and featured in popular magazines and newspapers beginning in the late 1940s. Children represented only a small fraction of all persons with cancer, yet they became a key component of the media campaign for the disease. What narratives were embedded in the photographs and profiles? Like the March of Dimes' use of young polio patients to promote their programs, "poster children" were strategically used throughout the mid-to-late twentieth century to advance principles of early cancer detection and prompt treatment; to illustrate or, at times, exaggerate promising biomedical advances in the field; and to elicit emotional responses and donations from a wide audience during the escalation of the war against cancer.

Where does hematology end and oncology begin? Questions of professional boundaries and medical authority.

This article recounts the development of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and explores the role of its members in defining oncology's boundaries-boundaries dictated by scientific innovations, major changes in the structure of medical specialization, and the competing efforts of closely related professional groups. Oral histories, journal articles, and unpublished materials from the ASCO History of Oncology Archive were reviewed to analyze these events closely. In 1972, the American Board of Internal Medicine recognized medical oncology as a subspecialty, creating tensions between oncology and hematology as each discipline defended its identity. Drawing on sources produced by hematologists, historian Keith Wailoo (Wailoo, Drawing Blood, 1997) has shown that when medical oncologists claimed wide-ranging expertise over the treatment of all patients suffering from malignant disease in their pursuit of specialty status, the leukemias became contested ground. This article extends this thesis by reviewing the central role of ASCO in these events and recreating the dialogue between members of the two fields as they sought recognition at individual institutions and, more broadly, within American medicine. By acknowledging the contestation of its authority and the results of these prolonged negotiations, we can better understand the current status of oncology and its future outlook.

Death be not proud: children, families, and cancer in postwar America.

On 30 June 1947, after a fifteen-month illness, seventeen-year-old Johnny Gunther died from a rare brain tumor. In Death Be Not Proud, Johnny's father, noted journalist John Gunther, meticulously recorded the exhaustive hunt for therapeutic options he and his ex-wife pursued during their son's illness. In "A Word from Frances," a short section written by Johnny's mother, she reflected upon her relationship with her son and his untimely death. The inclusion of Johnny's letters and diary entries helped to preserve Johnny's voice after his death and, consequently, to personify one young cancer sufferer and his family. In the 1940s, when cancer was identified as a leading cause of childhood mortality, Johnny and the best-selling memoir helped raise cancer awareness, especially about young sufferers. However, thousands of letters sent from across the country attested to the broader impact of the Gunthers' poignant story. Letters from parents demonstrated that cancer, childhood illness, and death threatened two ideals of postwar America: unlimited biomedical progress, and the child-centered family.

The formation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the development of a medical specialty, 1964-1973.

In April 1964, seven physicians met to discuss the formation of a new medical society for clinicians interested in the management of patients with cancer. Chemical warfare research during World War II had led to the advent of chemotherapeutic agents, a new, systemic approach toward cancer treatment. While skeptics questioned the benefits of chemotherapy, some internists viewed these drugs as promising new tools. Founders of the American Society of Clinical Oncology built their organization upon the importance, despite potential dangers, of utilizing chemotherapy as an essential component of cancer treatment, and positioned themselves as best qualified to manage the care of patients with cancer. The establishment of a new professional organization helped to anchor medical oncology as a distinct field during a time of increasing medical specialization in the United States. This essay examines the Society's early history within a broader context of the development of new chemical agents and cooperative groups, the formation of a new subspecialty, and increasing federal involvement in health care policy and funding, and describes the struggle of medical oncologists to solidify their authority over clinical cancer research and patient care.