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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. MOPP caused what?

2. "Farber's ____________" details the story of Robert Sandler, the two year old son of a Boston ship worker. The child fell mysteriously ill.

3. A final report from the panel agreed about what?

4. What was the argument regarding chemotherapy?

5. In 1969, the New York Times published an open letter to ___________________ begging him to support cancer research.

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the drug and cancer lists of Canellas and Frei. How is this significant?

2. How does chemotherapy reverse Paracelsus' belief about poison and drugs?

3. What is VAMP? What about this might have surprised Zubrod?

4. What were the problems with VAMP? How might these be corrected?

5. Choose a period of history that is significant to cancer research. How is this significant?

6. What is meant by the "smiling oncologist?"

7. How is cancer a total disease? How is this important?

8. What did Moya Cole think of Halsted's theories? Why?

9. Describe Min Chiu Li's work. Why did others believe further treatment was not necessary?

10. What are the two schools of thought regarding surgery? Why was this such a problem?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"Farber's Gauntlet" details the story of Robert Sandler.

Part 1) Who was Robert Sandler? How is his story important? How is it connected to the study of cancer and disease?

Part 2) Why is importance placed on this case? What does this say about the fight against cancer? Is this same mentality seen regarding other diseases? Why or why not?

Part 3) Would doctors today see Robert Sandler's case as some sort of success, if he was a patient today? Why or why not? What does this say about cancer research today?

Essay Topic 2

John Bennett was a Scottish physician in the 1800s.

Part 1) What discovery did he make? What were his assumptions about this discovery? Why might he have come to this conclusion? How was he wrong?

Part 2) Describe the work of Rudolf Virchow. How did his studies and conclusions compare to Bennett's? How did this affect what is known about cancer and specifically leukemia? How had knowledge of cancer developed up to this point? What important studies and cases led to the naming of leukemia in 1847?

Part 3) How did studies after the 1840s lead to even more understanding of cancer and specifically leukemia? Has this led to a significant amount of success? Why or why not? Has cancer research seen as much success as other areas of medical study? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Carla Reed was a thirty year old kindergarten teacher who had leukemia.

Part 1) What were her symptoms? Why did it take so long to determine that she had leukemia? How did this lead to her meeting Siddhartha Mukherjee?

Part 2) Describe Mukherjee's experiences with Carla. How was she treated for leukemia? What were the results of her treatment? Why was she such an important part of this book? What purpose did her story serve throughout this book?

Part 3) How did Carla's story affect you? What do you now know about cancer and/or leukemia that you did not know prior to hearing Carla's story? How does this affect your opinion of those who suffer from cancer?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,162 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample