Farber’s historic discovery of aminopterin not only prolonged the lives of many children with acute leukemia, but also pioneered a new era of cancer management. Whereas previous treatment strategies such as radiation had only limited success, the discovery of chemical agents that kill cancer cells -- chemotherapeutics -- opened up a new avenue of possibility.
Farber went on to establish the Children's Cancer Research Foundation, popularly known as the Jimmy Fund, in 1948, and soon after the Children's Cancer Institute, which became the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 1983. Today, more than 80 percent of children with acute leukemia are alive and disease-free at 5 years of age, making it one of the most successfully treated non-solid cancers in children.