Henry T. Lynch (January 4, 1928 – June 2, 2019)
He was sometimes described as "the father of hereditary cancer detection and prevention"[1] or the "father of cancer genetics",[2] although Lynch himself said that title should go to the early 20th century pathologist Aldred Scott Warthin.
Henry Lynch was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts and grew up in New York City. He dropped out of high school at 14 and joined the U. S. Navy at age 16, using false identification to disguise his age.[4] He served as a gunner during World War II. After his discharge in 1946 he became a professional boxer under the nickname "Hammerin' Hank.
Dr. Lynch was credited with providing, in the 1960s, the first complete description of hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer, a form of colon cancer eventually renamed Lynch syndrome. Lynch syndrome patients also have an increased risk of endometrial, ovarian, stomach, pancreatic and other forms of cancer.
In 1970 he applied for a research grant from the National Institutes of Health, citing a family in which numerous members had colon cancer, but the grant application was rejected, as were most of his other grant applications over the following 20 years.[6] He persisted, compiling data and statistics that demonstrated patterns of "cancer syndromes" through multiple generations of families. Dr. Lynch conducted his family medical histories with obsessive devotion, convening reunions and going door to door to locate relatives. He pored over family bibles, medical records, autopsy records and census data. The result of his efforts was one of the world’s largest databases of family cancer histories. Besides colon and breast and ovarian cancers, Dr. Lynch documented hereditary forms of melanoma and prostate and pancreatic cancers.
His theory of genetically based cancers was eventually accepted. His best-known example, hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer, is the most common form of hereditary colorectal cancer and is generally known as Lynch syndrome. He demonstrated the Mendelian inheritance pattern for certain breast and ovarian cancers, which laid the groundwork for the identification of specific genes responsible for these familial cancers, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2
Lynch has received several awards:
· 1992: American Cancer Society's Distinguished Service Award.[2]
· 1997: American Cancer Society's Medal of Honor Clinical Research Award.[2]
· 2000: American Society of Clinical Oncology's American Cancer Society Award; his award lecture was titled "Cancer Prevention in Hereditary Cancer: Lynch Syndrome as Model".[11]
Henry Lynch is credited with saving thousands of lives by championing screening practices that help physicians catch cancers early in their course, as well as preventive surgeries that in some cases forestall the disease’s onset altogether. Anyone who has undergone a physical examination and completed a questionnaire about family history of cancer is the beneficiary of his research.
Recent research has shown up to 10 percent of cancers to be inherited, said Sapna Syngal, founder of the newly launched Lynch Syndrome Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
The former Jane Smith, Dr. Lynch’s wife of 60 years and a psychiatric nurse who assisted him in his research, died in 2012. Survivors include three children, Patrick Lynch of Houston, Kathy Pinder of Corona, Calif., and Ann Kelly of Redondo Beach, Calif.; two brothers; 10 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
“When you look at the persistence of someone like Henry Lynch, I can’t help but wonder if I’d ever have the stamina to continue to press for what you believe in the face of adversity over such a period of time. We just saw the same thing with Dr. Jim Allison and his belief in the power of immunotherapy. I haven’t had the word “no” slammed in my face, but at the same time, I haven’t been able to truly attain “yes” yet. The Lynch Syndrome statistics appear staggering. With an estimated million plus Americans having a Lynch mutation, so many people can benefit from proactive Lynch Syndrome screening. This is why we’ve created AliveAndKickn. This is why we’ve dedicated so much to building the registry, sharing information, and continuing to push for more Lynch Syndrome awareness, screening and research.” – David Dubin, three-time Lynch cancer survivor and co-founder AliveAndKickn