Farber Hall

The Cary-Farber-Sherman complex, built in the early 1950's, was originally named for Samuel P. Capen (his name went to a building on the North Campus in the 1970's), and allowed the medical and dental schools to move from their downtown locations.

Sidney Farber (1903-1973) born in Buffalo, was a UB graduate in 1923 who later served as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School for 41 years, regarded as one of the founders of the specialty of pediatric pathology. The Clinical Trials Cooperative Group Program was conceived in 1955 when Dr. Sidney Farber, Mary Lasker, and others approached Congress with a proposal that it increase support for studies of chemotherapy for cancer. In the area of clinical care, one of Farber's innovations was something that sounds as if it could have come out of today's headlines. "He came up with the idea of what is now called 'total care'. He decided that all services for the patient and family - clinical care, nutrition, social work, counseling - should be provided in one place. All decisions should be made as a team. Everyone involved in caregiving should plan the treatment together." says former Institute President David G. Nathan, M.D.