1945: Hugh J. Creech, PhD, begins his 31-year career at the Institute. Dr. Creech would become widely recognized for pioneering work in developing chemotherapy agents.

1959: Peter C. Nowell, MD, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and his research fellow David A. Hungerford, Fox Chase Cancer Center [who subsequently earned his PhD], detect an abnormality on chromosome 22—the translocation now known as the Philadelphia chromosome—in cells taken from chronic myelogenous leukemia patients, proving cancer is a genetic disorder of somatic cells.

1960: Beatrice Mintz, PhD, joins the Institute. She would go on to produce the first genetically modified mice.

1967: Baruch S. Blumberg, MD, PhD, and his team identify the hepatitis B virus—a major cause of primary liver cancer. Blumberg would go on to receive the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1976.

1974: Two years after the National Cancer Act begins the “War on Cancer,” American Oncologic Hospital and the Institute for Cancer Research unite to form Fox Chase Cancer Center.

Late 1970s: Irwin A. Rose, PhD, Avram Hershko, MD, PhD, and Aaron Ciechanover, MD, PhD, discover how proteins are broken down and recycled, establishing a new paradigm in biology. They received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2004.

1988: Robert C. Young, MD, internationally known for his work in ovarian cancer, becomes President of Fox Chase.

1992: The National Institutes of Health names Fox Chase one of four institutions chosen to analyze all genetic data for the Human Genome Project.

1995: Fox Chase becomes one of the founding members of the National Comprehensive Cancer Center Network, an alliance of the nation’s leading academic cancer centers dedicated to ensuring the highest-quality, most cost-effective cancer care based on state-of-the-art treatment guidelines and outcomes research.

2001: Fox Chase becomes the first cancer center in the world to use magnetic resonance imaging to design more precise radiation treatment plans for cancer patients, setting a new standard for therapy.

2013: Richard I. Fisher, MD, appointed President and CEO of Fox Chase Cancer Center