1. Education

2. Medical Research

3. Publications

4. Awards and Recognitions

5. References

Thelma Brumfield Dunn^[1] (February 6, 1900 - December 31, 1992) was a medical researcher whose work on mice led to significant advances in human cancer research. Born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, her father was also a physician who was later appointed as assistant commissioner of the Virginia State Board of Health. The center of Brumfield's work was researching the origins and development of cancer in laboratory mice. She developed methods of inducing malignant tumors in the stomachs and intestines of experimental animals and studied the behavior of the cancer cells that resulted. Brumfield's husband, William LeRoy Dunn,^[2] was also a physician and her classmate in medical school. They had one daughter and two sons. One is John Thornton Dunn,^[3] who studies thyroid disorders and has led international efforts to eliminate iodine deficiency.

Education

Growing up, Brumfield attended public schools in both Richmond and Lynchburg. She attended Cornell University,^[4] transferred to Westhampton College^[5] for one year, then returned to Cornell University where she won the Guilford Prize^[6] for excelling in an English prose composition for an essay entitled "Virginia Tobacco." That same year, she received an A.B with honors in Entomology. In the fall of 1922, she enrolled in the department of medicine at the University of Virginia. Though she was one of very few women on campus, she was always treated with great respect from her male colleagues. She obtained an M.D in June 1926 and then began an internship at Bellevue Hospital.

Medical Research

Brumfield is known as the "First Lady of Cancer Research".^[7] Scientists in the United States and abroad looked to her for advice on their analysis of their experiements on carniogenesis^[8] and similar fields of pathologic investigation. Dr. According to Harold L. Stewart of the National Cancer Institute, Dunn's important contributions to the field of cancer research include her studies of mammary tumors, reticulum-cell sarcomas, leukemia, plasma-cell tumors, mast-cell tumors, the granular-cell tumors, cervical cancer and the common liver tumor of the mouse. Stewart also mentions Brumfield's discoveries the protein-secreting, plasma-cell tumors that originate in the ileocecal region of mice, a finding that initiated a program of animal research that's led to a better understanding of the fatality of human cancer.^[9] She developed lines of a transplantable mast-cell tumor of a mouse, which became a resource in laboratories for studies by others.^[10]

Publications

Brumfield has published definitive articles on the normal and pathologic anatomy of the kidney, the adrenal gland amyloidosis, congenital and induced ocular lesions, and the spontaneous lesions that accompany the aging process and which constitute the pathologic basis for the so called "geriatric diseases". In one of her publications, "The Unseen Fight Against Cancer", she made a clear distinction between growths seen as "malignant" and others classified as "benign". Brumfield believed that the world desperately needed a clear definition of cancer, which meant ruling out any other abnormal growths or diseases.

Awards and Recognitions

• While attending Cornell University and the Medical School of the University of Virginia, her peers elected her to membership in the honorary societies of Phi Beta Kappa^[11] and Alpha Omega Alpha.^[12]
• In 1958, the National Institutes of Health^[13] chose her as one of six members of the delegation of Distinguished American Women Physicians sent to the Soviet Union for the exchange of information and views on science and cancer. Also in 1958, the American Women's Association^[14] elected Dr. Dunn "Medical Woman of the Year" for the District of Columbia.
• In 1959, the Washington Society of Pathologists^[15] elected her its president.
• In 1961, the American Association for Cancer Research^[16] also elected her its president. Brumfield was the first woman to be elected to both organizations.
• In 1962, Brumfield met with John F. Kennedy as a recipient of the Federal Woman's Award for outstanding contributions to the government.^[17]

References

• The GEO Group
• The GEO Group Australia
• The GEO Group Australia Pty Ltd
• The GEO Group, Inc.
• The GEO Group Inc.
• The GEO Group, Inc
• The geological history of Point Lobos
• The Geological Society of America
• The Geologic Orchestra
• The Geologic Podcast
• The geology of Bolivia
• The geometer's sketchpad
• The geometry center
• The Geordies
• The geordies
• The George and Vulture Inn
• The George-Anne Daily
• The George Benson Collection
• The George Benson Cookbook
• The George Benson Quartet
• The George B. Sohier Prize
• The George C. Marshall Foundation
• The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center
• The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
• The George (disambiguation)