JIM RISWOLD
METHOTREXATE
2013 color digital print

33-1/2 x 33-1/2 inches, Edition of 10, $750.
24 x 24 inches, Edition of 10, $500.


Methotrexate is a BFD in the history of chemotherapies.

In 1950, Yellapragada Subbarao developed Methotrexate. Before that Subbarao
was no slouch in the history of chemotherapies: in 1947 he synthesized Aminopterin
and provided Sidney Farber with the chemical to get the first remissions in the
history of childhood leukemia.

In 1951, Jane Wright used Methotrexate to get remissions in breast cancer tumors.

In 1956, Min Chiu Li used Methotrexate to get remissions in women with choriocarcinoma
and chorioadenoma.

In 1960, Wright used Methotrexate to get remissions in mycosis fungoides.

Today, 63 years after Subbarao invented it, Methotrexate is used either alone or in
combination with other chemotherapeutic agents to get remissions in a lot of cancers,
including, breast, head and neck, leukemia, lymphoma, lung osteosarcoma,
bladder and trophoblastic neoplasms.

It is also used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile dermatomyositis, psoriasis, lupus,
sarcoidosis, Crohn’s disease and many forms of vasculitis.

Methotrexate is a BFD. Subbarao is a bigger BFD for inventing it.

In 1950, Doron K. Antrim wrote, “You’ve probably never heard of Dr. Yellapragada
Subbarao. Yet because he lived you may be alive and are well today. Because
he lived you may live longer.”

In 1981, Subbarao got a fungus named in his honor: Subbaromyces splendens.