The National Cancer Act of 1971 leads to the creation of the National Cancer Institute. In 1973 the trustees of the University and Hospital approved construction of the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, which opened in April 1977. The center is among the first to earn Comprehensive Cancer Center status and recognition as a "Center of Excellence."

50 years of cancer nursing

Bone marrow –– the spongey substance deep within our bones –– is the factory for all blood and immune cells. Without it, we cannot survive. Diseases, such as leukemia and lymphoma, represent a production failure in the bone marrow factory, where an overabundance of abnormal cells overwhelm and crowd out healthy blood and immune cells.

In 1996 a Johns Hopkins investigator uncovered and reopened a 30-year-old clinical protocol that offered the promise of a cure for patients with the rare and deadly immune disorder known as severe aplastic anemia (SAA).

There are likely few peoplewho understand the valueof cancer research as well asRich. His life was saved threetimes by discoveries in bonemarrow transplantationthat spanned three decades.