On September 14th 2018 a true giant in pediatric oncology died peacefully at home at the age of 96, after a remarkably prolific academic career. Dr. Giulio J. D’Angio, affectively know as Dan to most around him, had a far-reaching impact on the lives of thousands of children with cancer because as a true visionary he recognized early on the importance of interdisciplinary multicenter research to advance the outcome of childhood cancer. In doing so, his efforts to improve the lives of children with cancer reached far beyond Philadelphia, the city he had moved to in the late 1960’s to practice medicine. Dan was an expert in diagnostic radiology, radiation oncology, pediatric oncology, and cancer survivorship. He contributed in a very significant way to the excellent survival rates that now exist for children affected by childhood kidney cancer, most notably Wilms tumor.
Dr. D’Angio, the son of Italian immigrants, was raised in Brooklyn, earned an undergraduate degree at Columbia University and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. World War II caused an interruption in his training as he served in the Pacific Ocean theatre. After he returned he felt fortunate to receive part of his training by giants in Medicine, like the surgeon William E. Ladd and the radiologist Martin “Dick” Wittenborg. At Boston Children’s Hospital he worked with the world renowned pathologist Sydney Farber and witnessed firsthand the introduction of chemotherapy for children with cancer, a highly controversial approach that according to its detractors only unnecessarily prolonged the suffering of children affected by cancer. But visionaries like Dr. Farber and Dr. D’Angio focused on the ‘prolongation of life’ as the first sign that cures were possible. And we owe it to their courage and perseverance in those early years for the successes that we take for granted in 2019.
