Some of the most important cancer research discoveries made were only possible because of a few exceptional people who saw hope when others didn’t. People like Professor Donald Metcalf who, like many others, faced an uphill battle dedicating their work to solving cancer’s mysteries.
For him, saving lives from cancer meant first proving it could be done.
Prof. Metcalf’s career was kickstarted by the generosity of a bequest left for Cancer Council Victoria in 1945 by Melbourne cinema owner, George Carden. The Carden Fellowship was directed to support research on the nature of cancer – but first Cancer Council had to find the right person to take the position.
The salary was low and there were very few suitable labs in Melbourne at the time to conduct research. More established researchers weren’t interested, but a young medical graduate caught the eye of the Carden Trust’s Standing Committee. They offered Prof. Metcalf a salary as a Carden Research Worker but held off on giving him the Fellowship until he proved himself.
Prof. Metcalf was given a small laboratory at WEHI to do his work. His new boss at the institute, (soon-to-be) Nobel prize winning immunologist Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet told Dr Metcalf that cancer was an “inevitable disease” and anyone trying to research it was “either a fool or a rogue”.
But it was under this highly sceptical eye that Prof. Metcalf made his first important discovery – a substance in the blood of people diagnosed with certain types of leukaemia. Even Prof. Burnet was impressed with his findings, which led to even more discoveries in bone marrow cells and white blood cells. This work went on to help shape the whole of immunology and clinical medicine in Australia and around the world.
Prof. Metcalf and Dr Nick Nicola
Prof. Metcalf’s greatest breakthrough, however, was in the discovery of blood growth factors that he called ‘colony stimulating factors’ (CSFs), which boost infection-fighting white blood cells in the body. And after decades of relentless work with CSFs, he and his team finally had a way to mass produce them. CSFs are now used to reduce infections from high-dose chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants and other health conditions – saving over 20 million lives worldwide.
Prof. Metcalf’s many contributions earned him the title of ‘Father of Haematology’. He remained the Carden Fellow supported by Cancer Council Victoria right up until his retirement.
*Taken from ‘Gaining Ground against Cancer’ by Ann Westmore.