Janet Davison Rowley ( April 5 , 1925 -- December 17 , 2013 ) was an American human geneticist and the first scientist to identify a chromosomal translocation as the cause of leukemia and other cancers .
Janet Davison Rowley ( April 5 , 1925 - December 17 , 2013 ) was an American geneticist . She was the first scientist to identify a chromosomal translocation as the cause of leukemia and other cancers in humans .