Historic Philadelphia

deep compassion and teaching skills, which
lured medical students to Philadelphia from
around the world. His book on anatomy was the
first standard text in his field.
In 1816, just before his death, Caspar
Wistar appointed physician William Edmonds
Horner caretaker of his teaching aids—dried
and wax-injected limbs and organs and
wooden models made by William Rush,
America’s first professional sculptor. Horner
enlarged the collection and established the
Wistar and Horner Museum, the first
anatomical museum in the United States.
Nearly eighty years later, Isaac Wistar,
Caspar Wistar’s great nephew, a general in the
Civil War and a lawyer and cultural leader in
Philadelphia, was asked to help with
restoration of the Museum, located on the
campus of the University of Pennsylvania. He
agreed to its repair and, in 1892, using land
donated by the University, built The Wistar
Institute around it. Though strongly linked to
the University, the Institute was independent
and free to initiate “work for the increase of
original scientific knowledge.”
In 1972, in recognition of Wistar’s excellent
record in cancer research, the National Cancer
Institute (NCI) chose it as one of the country’s
first NCI-designated Cancer Centers, making
Wistar a federally approved basic research cancer
center. Although Wistar is currently one of five
NCI-designated cancer centers in Pennsylvania,
it is the only one that exclusively conducts
medical research and does not treat patients.
Wistar’s scientists research diseases that
include cancer and autoimmune, viral, and
degenerative diseases. Their work is supported
by donations from individuals, as well as grants
and awards from various sources such as the
NCI, National Institutes of Health, National
Science Foundation, American Cancer Society,
National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and many
local and national private foundations.
Working in more than forty laboratories,
Wistar’s investigators are grouped under four
research programs: molecular genetics, tumor
biology, tumor immunology, and structural
biology. Although each lab focuses on specific
research goals, the programs are flexible and
encourage the cross-disciplinary interaction
that innovative research demands. There are
special resource centers for Brain Tumor
Research, Structural Biology, and Gene Therapy.
For more than one hundred years, The
Wistar Institute has pursued a dual mission of
scientific research and education. Its motto—
Developing the Medicine of Tomorrow—
continues to guide the Institute, leading
researchers into the next century to combat
existing and emerging diseases.
✧
An anatomical model of the sphenoid bone
at the base of the skull, posterior view, c.
1810. The model was commissioned by Dr.
Caspar Wistar for his anatomical museum
and carved by William Rush, America’s first
professional sculptor, in Philadelphia.
COURTESY OF THE WISTAR INSTITUTE,
WISTAR MUSEUM COLLECTION.
QUALITY OF LIFE
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