Michael Boris Shimkin was born in Siberia in 1912 and emigrated to the United States in 1928. Shimkin played an important role in American cancer research as a clinical and experimental researcher and an editor of major research journals. He also conducted research in public health and engaged in medical exchanges with the Soviet Union. After establishing and directing the National Cancer Institute's Laboratory for Experimental Oncology (1947-1954), he became chief of the Institute's Field and Biometry and Epidemiology divisions, joining Temple University (1963-1969) and, ultimately, UCSD's Department of Family and Community Medicine. He died in 1989, a professor emeritus of UCSD's Medical School. The bulk of the papers documents Shimkin's career at UCSD in the 1970s. Very little material is available here relating to his research at the LEO, his other NCI positions, or his work at Temple University. Correspondence, files on professional societies, subject files, and writings span his entire career and include records of his participation in the American Association for Cancer Research as president and editor, his responsibilities with the United States Public Health Service reviewing conditions of German concentration camps and representing the U.S. in medical missions to Moscow, and correspondence related to his research. UCSD files document his career with the UCSD School of Medicine's Department of Community Medicine (1968-1986), where he researched carcinogenesis and epidemiology and helped plan a Cancer Center at the UCSD Medical Center. Teaching and lecture materials are also included. NCI files span 1962-1980 and document Shimkin's work as a consultant and contractor for that agency. The bulk of the photographs are from his 1956 trip to Moscow.

Michael Boris Shimkin (1912-1989), the son of Boris M. and Lydia J. Shimkin, was born in Siberia, immigrated to the United States in 1921, and became a U.S. citizen in 1928.

18.00 linear feet (45 archives boxes)

Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.

In accordance with federal and state laws, personnel records contained in this collection are restricted until 2067.