Charlotte Friend

Charlotte Friend was born in New York City in 1921. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, she graduated with a PhD, in 1950.

She joined the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, and was associate professor of microbiology there until 1966, when she was appointed professor at the Mount Sinat School of Medicine.

She discovered that a fatal leukemia could be induced in experimental animals by a virus, now known as Friend Leukemia Virus (FLV).

Basically, she discovered that some viruses could produce cancer. She received many honors worldwide, and was elected to the National Academy of Science in 1976. She died in 1987.