Aldred Scott Warthin

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Aldred Scott Warthin (October 21, 1866 – May 23, 1931) was an American pathologist who helped establish that some cancers can be inherited. He is often called the father of cancer genetics.

He was born in Greensburg, Indiana. As a young man he studied piano and earned a teacher’s diploma from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in 1877. He earned a science degree from Indiana University in 1888, then studied medicine at the University of Michigan, earning advanced degrees by 1893. After further study in Europe, he joined the University of Michigan, where he spent his whole career. He rose from teacher and lab worker to head of the pathology lab in 1895, then became director, professor, and chair of pathology for many years. He taught more than 3,000 medical students and was active in professional societies, serving as the first vice president of the American College of Physicians and as editor of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

In 1930 he published The Creed of a Biologist, a book arguing for the genetic transmission of acquired traits and endorsing eugenics.

Warthin’s key contribution came from studying families with many cancer deaths. In 1895 a seamstress told him her family had a long history of cancer, which led him to investigate. By 1913 he published work on a large family known as “family G” and later described dozens of other families, showing patterns that suggested cancer could be inherited. He found several sets of twins who developed the same cancer, supporting the idea that susceptibility and immunity to cancer could be inherited. His work laid the groundwork for cancer genetics, a field that gained acceptance many decades later.

Beyond cancer, he studied syphilis for 20 years and helped develop the Warthin-Starry stain to detect the disease. He also researched diseases of the reticuloendothelial system and co-authored a book on mustard gas in 1919.

He married physician Katherine Angell in 1900, and they had four children. He enjoyed golf, growing flowers, and collecting art about death, writing The Physician of the Dance of Death. He died suddenly from asthma on May 23, 1931, and is buried in Greensburg, Indiana.