Charles Brenton Huggins

About Charles Brenton Huggins

Who is it?: Physician & Surgeon
Birth Day: September 22, 1901
Birth Place: Halifax, Nova Scotia, American
Died On: January 12, 1997(1997-01-12) (aged 95)\nChicago, Illinois
Birth Sign: Libra
Citizenship: Canadian / American
Alma mater: Acadia University Harvard University
Known for: prostate cancer hormones
Awards: Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1966) Gairdner Foundation International Award (1966)
Fields: physiology
Institutions: University of Michigan, University of Chicago

Charles Brenton Huggins Net Worth

Charles Brenton Huggins was born on September 22, 1901 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, American, is Physician & Surgeon. Charles Brenton Huggins was a Canadian-born American physician, surgeon and physiologist who won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1966 for his discovery regarding use of hormones to regulate spread of certain types of cancer. Such findings of Huggins was the first of its kind in this field that showed chemicals can be applied to control the spreading of this fatal disease and this path-breaking discovery aided in initiating a new era of drug therapy that laid the foundation for advanced treatment of prostate and breast cancer. He conducted his research work on cancer, specializing in prostate cancer at the ‘University of Chicago’ where he remained director of the ‘Ben May Laboratory for Cancer Research’ for nearly two decades. He was a male urological and genital tract specialist and through his investigations he found that by applying doses of the female hormone estrogen, the actions of the male hormone in a patient can be restricted, which would impede the growth of prostate cancer. Through his investigations, he also displayed the dependency of breast cancers on particular hormones. He succeeded in regressing tumours of a few of his patients by removing the sources of estrogen that is the adrenal glands and the ovaries. Such research work of Huggins paved way for development of drugs that prevent estrogen production in body, thus aiding in the treatment of breast cancer. In 1966 he received the ‘Gairdner Foundation International Award’.
Charles Brenton Huggins is a member of Surgeons

💰 Net worth: Under Review

Biography/Timeline

1920

Huggins was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He graduated from Acadia University with a BA degree in 1920. He went on to study Medicine at Harvard Medical School and received his MD degree in 1924. He served his internship and residency in general surgery with Frederick A. Coller at the University of Michigan.

1941

Huggins established a method to measure the effect hormone changes have on prostatic function. He found out that castration or estrogen administration led to glandular atrophy, which could be reversed by re-administration of androgen. In 1941 the beneficial effect of androgen ablation on metastatic prostate cancer was realised when Huggins and Clarence Hodges treated patients by either castration or estrogen therapy. They monitored the prostate size and therapeutic efficacy by measuring serum prostatic acid phosphatase levels and concluded that androgenic activity in the body influences prostate cancer, at least with respect to serum phosphatase. Huggins was the first to use a systemic approach to treat prostate cancer.

1966

Huggins was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1966.

1997

Huggins died 1997 in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 95 years. His wife died in 1983.