Dr. Lucy Anderson ’60 has made significant contributions in the field of tumorigenesis during her 28 years at The National Cancer Institute. Now retired, Dr. Anderson is still publishing papers and researching data. Dr. Anderson’s career is marked by many rewarding observations, including discovery of a new cancer-causing bacterium as well as large scale population side effects of the anti-AIDS drug, AZT. 

More recently, new research has garnered her attention.“The most exciting topic for me recently has been transgenerational effects of paternal exposures,” she said. “Incidences of common childhood cancers have been increasing in recent years in the U.S. and Europe, with no clear causes. Epidemiology has indicated that exposures of fathers may be as important as exposures of mothers.”

Dr. Anderson found early academic inspiration at St. Catherine’s. “My experience was transformational,” she said. “I learned that I loved to study and to learn. The St. Catherine's learning-centered structure was just right for me at that time.”Dr. Anderson attended Bryn Mawr for undergraduate and went to graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia with a full NSF fellowship. Upon completion of postdoctoral work in biochemistry at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Anderson went to work at the Sloan Kettering Institute in New York. While at Kettering, she developed a research program in transplacental carcinogenesis. Her success at Kettering caught the eye of the National Cancer Institute, where she was hired in 1982.

Even as a retiree, Dr. Anderson continues researching today. She is in the process of preparing data collected from her final experiment for publication. Her papers currently in preparation relate to these male-mediated transgenerational effects and their impact on cancer risks as well as other disease. Dr. Anderson may no longer have a laboratory, but she continues to contribute to her field through writing and lecturing.