Janet Wolter Grip ’46

Janet Wolter Grip ’46, who made important contributions to advances in cancer care and helped pave the way for female physicians, died Feb. 4, 2020, in Chicago, Illinois. She was 93 years old.

Known as Dr. Wolter, she earned her M.D. from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 1950, fulfilling her 7th-grade ambition to become a doctor. She began her career in cancer care in 1963 by collaborating with Dr. Samuel Taylor III, an endocrinologist interested in the potential use of hormones to treat breast and prostate cancers.

Wolter served on the executive committees and was active in two major oncology cooperative groups, the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group and the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast Program (NSABP). NSABP honored her with the Investigator Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.

In 1973, she was appointed to the Board of Scientific Counselors, Division of Cancer Treatment, of the National Cancer Institute. In 1978 she was elected president of the Chicago unit of the American Cancer Society and also served in the national American Cancer Society.

Wolter taught for 46 years at Rush University Medical Center, where she was the Brian Piccolo Chair of Cancer Research and professor of medicine. She was a trustee of Rush University and served as president of the medical staff from 1999-2001.

Wolter married Carl M. Grip Jr. in 1973 and was widowed in 1995.