Edward Frederick Lewison

Lewison, a founder and chief of the breast clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, was born in Chicago. He earned his B.S. in 1932 from the University of Chicago and his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1936. Lewison then became an intern and resident in surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

To gain further training in his specialty, he served one-year residencies at Passavant Memorial Hospital in Chicago and at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. During World War II, Lewison was in charge of the 192nd General Hospital in the European theater of operations. For this service, he was awarded a citation and certificate of merit.

Returning from the medical corps in 1946, Lewison became chief of the breast clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, a post he held for twenty-five years. He already had many publications to his credit, as well as an invention of rayable gauze (X-ray opaque surgical sponge). In 1949, he joined the faculty of the school of medicine as an instructor in surgery. Lewison retired from the faculty in 1980 as an associate professor.

Lewison wrote more than 130 articles on the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, a field in which he was an internationally recognized expert. He also was the author of several books including Breast Cancer and Its Diagnosis and Treatment, and was co-editor of Breast Cancer and also of Diagnosis and Treatment of Breast Cancer-International Clinical Forum. Lewison chaired breast cancer symposia and conferences held throughout the world. In addition, he served on the Breast Cancer Committee of the World Health Organization. Lewison was an early advocate of breast self-examination and saw a possible link in the mid-1960s between birth control pills and breast cancer.

Early in his career, he became active as a volunteer in the American Cancer Society. He served the Maryland division as its president and as a member of the board of directors and the executive committee. In 1976, Lewison became medical director-at-large for the board of directors of the national society.

In 1988, the Breast Cancer Research Library at Johns Hopkins was named for him, and in 2002, it was rededicated as the Lewison Library in the Bunting Blaustein Cancer Research Building. In 1990, Lewison was named Humanitarian of the Year by the Arlene Rosenbloom Wyman Guild.