Dr. Judah Folkman, “father of angiogenesis”, (1933-2008) was the Director of the Vascular Biology Program, Andrus Professor of Pediatric Surgery, and Professor of Cell Biology at Harvard University's Boston Children's Hospital. In the 1971 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, he proposed the theory that tumor growth is angiogenesis dependent. This premise was the basis of this field of research and has become the focus of scientists worldwide. Because of Folkman's discovery and research, the possibilities of antiangiogenic and angiogenic therapy have broadened beyond cancer to many noncancerous diseases.


This book represents the first collection in a volume of which Dr. Folkman is co-editor. Dr. Folkman authored nearly 400 original papers and more than 100 book chapters.


Dr. William Figg is the chief of the Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology Program at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health. Over the past 15 years, his laboratory and clinic at the NCI have focused on the development of angiogenesis inhibitors. Dr. Figg has published more than 380 publications.