Preview: Season 36 Episode 3 | 1m 35s | Video has closed captioning.
The Cancer Detectives tells the untold story of the first-ever war on cancer and the coalition of people who fought tirelessly to save women from cervical cancer: a Greek immigrant, Dr. George Papanicolau; his intrepid wife, Mary; Japanese-born artist Hashime Murayama; Dr. Helen Dickens, an African American OBGYN in Philadelphia; and an entirely new class of female scientists.
Aired: 03/26/24
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Costly cancer deaths.
They deprive the world of too many people we love.
Cancer was deeply feared at this time.
It was essentially a death sentence.
By the time they found out that it was cancer, it was too late.
The notion of trying to find a cervical cancer early wasn't on anyone's radar screen, and nobody thought there was a way to do that.
This is the doctor George N. Papanicolaou, professor emeritus of Cornell Medical College.
He realizes that you could find cancer before it technically exists.
That really is unprecedented.
To have accurate, powerful illustrations of those cells was completely fundamental to the success of George's work.
Murayama used colors in a way that made differences in the cells much easier to identify.
Dickens would do workshops like: cancer and women, cancer in the uterus.
She understands some of the trepidation.
She's saying, look, I'm a product of this, and I'm telling you that you can trust me.
She thought that if she could just spread Dr. Papanicolaous technique, it was life saving.
Less is spent on cancer research than we spend on chewing gum.
What begins to happen is women carving out an identity for themselves, really, as public health activists.
The Pap test really became a life saving test
American Experience.
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