David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

the atmosphere was like,” DeVita says.
“I remember there was a grand rounds
around that time, to discuss
choriocarcinoma. And the subject of
conversation was whether this was a
case of spontaneous remission. No one
could even get their heads around the
idea that the methotrexate had actually
cured the patient.” Needless to say,
Freireich speaks of Li, even today, with
awe. Once at a scientific meeting, a
speaker slighted Li’s accomplishments,
and Freireich leapt up and roared, in the
middle of the proceeding, “M. C. Li
cured choriocarcinoma!”
10 Freireich stories are legion. At one
point he ventured up to the twelfth floor
of the NCI’s clinical center, which