For more than 50 years, the University of Chicago has been a leader in cancer research. Our scientists and clinicians have consistently expanded the boundaries of knowledge and transformed cancer care and prevention.
Seminal discoveries made at UChicago have stimulated the development and introduction of many of the cancer treatments used today. As the examples below demonstrate, many of the roots of chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, gene therapy and bone marrow transplantation can be traced to UChicago.
1930s - 1940s
Charles B. Huggins, MD, demonstrated that prostate cancers are dependent on hormones, work that earned him the Nobel Prize in 1966 and transformed prostate and breast cancer research and treatment.
1950s

1960s

1970s


1980s


1990s


2000 - 2004


2005 - 2009




2010 - 2014



2015 - 2019
Thomas Gajewski, MD, PhD, demonstrated the role of β-catenin signaling in tumor immune exclusion and PD1 checkpoint inhibitor therapy resistance, showing that the T cell-inflamed tumor microenvironment is a biomarker of response to immunotherapy.




2020 -
