Paul Godley: oncologist, epidemiologist, researcher, and photographerRebecca Wallersteiner, BMJ 2019;365:l2174
Paul Alphonso Godley was born in Detroit, Michigan, in the US, the son of Alegro J Godley, an internist, and his wife, Juanita, a nurse. He grew up in a home where medicine was discussed every day. The studious young Godley was educated at the Friends School in Detroit, where he excelled at science and developed a love for music and the visual arts. While Godley was working towards his MD, his mother died from colon cancer, influencing his choice of specialty and sparking an ongoing research interest in cancer prevention. He became a world class oncologist and cancer researcher, and a professor in the department of medicine at the University of North Carolina (UCN) at Chapel Hill School of Medicine—the first African-American to do so. He dedicated his life to compassionate care for patients with prostate cancer.