Physician and medical writer
Galen of Pergamum
Physician of the 2nd century CE who wrote On Tumours Against Nature and gave a detailed clinical picture of cancer, an etymology of the word from the animal 'cancer' (crab), and a humoral explanation of its cause. His life dates are given with a question mark in the source read.
Milestones
Sources
Papavramidou N, Papavramidis T, Demetriou T. Ancient Greek and Greco-Roman methods in modern surgical treatment of cancer. Ann Surg Oncol. 2010;17(3):665-7.
Retsas S. Perceptions of Cancer Through the Ages-From Hippocratic Oncology to Precision Cancer Medicine. Biomolecules. 2024;14(11).