Vera Peters

{{short description|Canadian oncologist (1911–1993)}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Mildred Vera Peters

| birth_date = {{birth date |1911|04|28}}

| birth_place = Rexdale, Ontario, Canada

| death_date = {{death date and age |1993|10|01|1911|04|28}}

| death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada

| workplaces = Toronto General Hospital, Princess Margaret Hospital

| alma_mater = University of Toronto

}}

Mildred Vera Peters, OC (28 April 1911 – 1 October 1993) was a Canadian oncologist and clinical investigator.

Peters received her medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1934.{{cite web|url=http://www.science.ca/scientists/scientistprofile.php?pID=405&pg=3|title=science.ca Profile : Vera Peters|date=19 August 2005|publisher=GCS Research Society|access-date=6 July 2014}} In 1950 she published a landmark paper demonstrating for the first time that many patients with early Hodgkin's disease, then considered incurable, could be completely cured if given high-dose radiation.{{cite journal|last=Peters|first=MV|title=Radiation Therapy|journal=JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association|date=4 January 1965|volume=191|issue=1|pages=28–29|doi=10.1001/jama.1965.03080010034008}} She later went on to study the use of radiation therapy in the treatment of breast cancer.{{cite journal|last=Peters|first=MV|title=Radiation therapy in the management of breast cancer|journal=Proceedings, National Cancer Conference|date=1970|volume=6|pages=163–74|pmid=5458090}} Her research, carried out at the Princess Margaret Hospital, demonstrated that breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy) followed by radiation was just as effective as radical mastectomy which had a significant impact on the lives of the many women who experience breast cancer.{{Cite web| title = Dr. M. Vera Peters| work = Canadian Medical Hall of Fame Inductees| access-date = 2015-04-19| date = 2015| url = http://cdnmedhall.org/inductees/dr-m-vera-peters}}{{Cite news|title=Where's the cure for breast cancer?: [SU2 Edition]|last=Dunlop|first=Marilyn|date=1992-05-24|work=Toronto Star; Toronto, Ont.|location=Toronto, Ont., Canada|pages=4|issn=0319-0781|id={{ProQuest|436622739}}}}

Peters' original research was met with skepticism by the medical establishment in the 1950s and she remarked in an interview that it took over 10 years for her findings to be accepted.{{Cite news| issn = 0319-0781| pages = –12| title = Vera Peters changed cancer therapy: [SU2 Edition]| work = Toronto Star; Toronto, Ont.| location = Toronto, Ont., Canada, Toronto, Ont.| date = 1993-10-03| id ={{ProQuest|436927858}}}}

In recognition of her medical work Peters was awarded two honorary doctorates (from York University in 1975 and Queen's University in 1983) and in 1979 received both a gold medal from the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology and a Medaille Antoine Beclere. In 1988 she was named a Woman of Distinction by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1975, raised to Officer in 1977, and was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2010.{{cite web |last1=University Secretariat |title=Honorary Degree Recipients |url=http://secretariat.info.yorku.ca/senate/sub-committee-on-honorary-degrees-and-ceremonials/honorary-degree-recipients/ |publisher=York University |access-date=1 November 2019}}{{Cite news| issn = 0828-1815| pages = –5| last = Gignac| first = Tamara| title = U of C med school founder honoured; William Cochrane named to Medical Hall of Fame| work = Calgary Herald; Calgary, Alta.| location = Calgary, Alta., Canada, Calgary, Alta.| date = 2009-10-17| id = {{ProQuest|243914149}}}}