Judah Folkman was born in Cleveland (USA) in 1933 and graduated in Medicine at Harvard University in 1957. He now heads the Department of Surgical Research at Boston's Children's Hospital and is Professor of Cellular Biology at Harvard Medical School. Angiogenesis, for which he devised a theory in the sixties, and of which he is considered the father figure, is now one of the major research lines in the fight against cancer. It is a process whereby tumours generate their own vascular system, allowing them to receive nutrients and to develop. Doctor Folkman discovered that tumour angiogenesis can be kept at bay for a considerable length of time, and even rendered dormant indefinitely, when tumours produce high levels of certain protein factors, yet regain their angiogenetic capacity and ability to become invasive when these levels dwindle. This has triggered new lines of oncological research into the synthesis of angiogenesis inhibitors, some of which - endostatin and angiostatin, for example - were discovered by Folkman himself. Doctor Folkman was a member of the American National Academy of Science, and held honoris causa doctorates from fifteen universities.

Judah Folkman died on January 14, 2008 when he was 74 years old.