Flashback
110 years ago
One of the world’s leading cancer research centers, the Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), was established 110 years ago through the insight and work of a UB faculty member and another distinguished Buffalonian.
In 1898, Roswell Park (pictured on left), a leading surgeon and UB professor, recognized the impending significance of cancer research and the need to create a laboratory devoted solely to its study. Park and Edward H. Butler Sr. (pictured on right), founder of The Buffalo Evening News, succeeded in securing state funding to equip and maintain the New York State Pathological Laboratory, the world’s first research center devoted to the study of cancer.
Originally located in UB’s medical building on High Street, the laboratory moved to a new building in 1901 and was renamed the Gratwick Research Laboratory. A decade later, the laboratory became a state entity—the New York State Institute for the Study of Malignant Diseases. In 1946, the laboratory was renamed to honor its founder and first director, Roswell Park. Today, UB remains affiliated with RPCI through the institute’s graduate division and as a research partner.
—Amanda Kuhnel, University Archives
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