1921-1922 James Ewing, USA

IAMM President 1921-1922

During his career, James Ewing held a variety of positions in New York City. During the Spanish War in 1898, he studied malarial fever, making several contributions to the knowledge of malaria. He wrote several papers on toxaemia of pregnancy after his wife died of it during childbirth. James spent 40 years at Cornell University Medical College New York as Professor of Pathology 1899 – 1932, and ended as Director of the Memorial Hospital 1932 – 1939. His brilliance, unlimited capacity for work, generosity and genuine interest in his students, left a lasting impression on his students and colleagues. He was instrumental in seeking the permission of the Memorial Hospital Board to confine the hospital’s work to the study and treatment of cancer which it continues to do.

His great work on tumors, ‘Neoplastic Diseases’ published in 1919 after 10 years of unremitting labor, established him as an authority on tumors. (Ewing’s sarcoma of bone was named after him.) Despite some physical disabilities, he was an ardent tennis player. He appeared on the cover of Time magazine for his work on cancer. The James Ewing Society (now the American Soc. of Surgical Oncology) was founded by his associates and former residents.