Henry Thompson Lynch (January 4, 1928 – June 2, 2019) was an American physician noted for his discovery of familial susceptibility to certain kinds of cancer and his research into genetic links to cancer. He is sometimes described as "the father of hereditary cancer detection and prevention" or the "father of cancer genetics", although Lynch himself said that title should go to the early 20th century pathologist

Aldred Scott Warthin Aldred Scott Warthin (October 21, 1866 − May 23, 1931) was an American pathologist whose research laid the foundation for understanding the heritability of certain cancers. He has been described as "the father of cancer genetics." Early life an ...

. Lynch was the chairman of preventive medicine at

Creighton University School of Medicine The Creighton University School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, and grants the Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. It was founded in 1892. A new satellite campus opened in 2012 at S ...

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

and held the Charles F. and Mary C. Heider Endowed Chair in Cancer Research.

Early life and education

Lynch was born in

Lawrence, Massachusetts Lawrence is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Merrimack River. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 89,143. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and Nort ...

and grew up in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He dropped out of high school at 14 and joined the U. S. Navy at age 16, using false identification to disguise his age. He served as a gunner during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After his discharge in 1946 he became a professional boxer under the nickname "Hammerin' Hank". After obtaining a high school equivalency, he received a bachelor's degree from the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

in 1951 and a master's degree in clinical psychology from the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

in 1952. He studied for a Ph.D. in human genetics from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

and received an M.D. from the

University of Texas Medical Branch The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) is a public academic health science center in Galveston, Texas. It is part of the University of Texas System. UTMB includes the oldest medical school in Texas, and has about 11,000 employees. In Febr ...

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

in 1960. He interned at St. Mary's Hospital in

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

and completed a residency in internal medicine at the

University of Nebraska College of Medicine The University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) is a Public university, public Academic health science centre, academic health science center in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1869 and chartered as a private medical college in 1881, UNMC became pa ...

Career

He served as an assistant professor at the

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (colloquially MD Anderson Cancer Center) is a comprehensive cancer center in Houston, Texas. It is the largest cancer center in the U.S. and one of the original three comprehensive cancer centers ...

, then joined the faculty at Creighton University in 1967. Noting that some cancer patients had relatives and ancestors with the same type of cancer, Lynch postulated that cancer could be hereditary. He began to focus his research on that possibility, although it was considered unlikely by the medical establishment of the time, which was focused on environmental causes of cancer; in fact the

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating in more than ...

frequently stated that cancer was not hereditary. In 1970 he applied for a research grant from the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

, 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. He persisted, compiling data and statistics that demonstrated patterns of "

cancer syndrome A cancer syndrome, or family cancer syndrome, is a genetic disorder in which inherited genetic mutations in one or more genes predispose the affected individuals to the development of cancers and may also cause the early onset of these cancers. Ca ...

s" through multiple generations of families. He defined the necessary criteria for a genetic cancer: early age of onset of the disease, specific pattern of multiple primary cancers, and Mendelian patterns of inheritance in hundreds of extended families worldwide. 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 Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) or Lynch syndrome is an autosomal dominant genetic condition that is associated with a high risk of colon cancer as well as other cancers including endometrial cancer (second most common), ovary, ...

. He demonstrated the

Mendelian inheritance Mendelian inheritance (also known as Mendelism) is a type of biological inheritance following the principles originally proposed by Gregor Mendel in 1865 and 1866, re-discovered in 1900 by Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns, and later popularize ...

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 Breast cancer type 1 susceptibility protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''BRCA1'' () gene. Orthologs are common in other vertebrate species, whereas invertebrate genomes may encode a more distantly related gene. ''BRCA1'' is a h ...

and

BRCA2 ''BRCA2'' and BRCA2 () are a human gene and its protein product, respectively. The official symbol (BRCA2, italic for the gene, nonitalic for the protein) and the official name (originally breast cancer 2; currently BRCA2, DNA repair associated) ...

. In 1984 he established the Hereditary Cancer Prevention Clinic at Creighton, which focuses on identifying risk factors, promoting early detection, and preventing the onset of familial cancers. Under his leadership Creighton also hosts a High Risk Registry, part of the Early Detection Research Network sponsored by the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

. The Registry allows the Network to educate individual patients about their genetic risk status. Lynch died of congestive heart failure on June 2, 2019, at the age of 91.

Bibliography

Lynch has written hundreds of articles and several books, including * * * *

Recognition

Lynch has received several awards: * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Henry T. 2019 deaths 1928 births American medical researchers Cancer researchers Creighton University faculty People from Lawrence, Massachusetts People from Omaha, Nebraska Physicians from New York City Military personnel from Massachusetts University of Oklahoma alumni University of Denver alumni University of Texas Medical Branch alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II Fellows of the AACR Academy Scientists from New York (state) United States Navy sailors Child soldiers in World War II