His parents emigrated from Russia to Canada and the United States. His sister Sophie became a concert pianist[3][4] and his brother Lionel earned a Ph.D. at the University of Toronto[3] and became a professor of biochemistry at the University of California, San Francisco.[3][5] Emmanuel Farber graduated in 1942 with an M.D. from the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine.[1] In April 1942 he married Ruth Wilma Diamond. From 1942 to 1946 he served as a captain in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. From 1942 to 1943 he did his medical internship and medical residency in pathology at Hamilton General Hospital. Supported from 1947 to 1949 by a fellowship in cancer research from the American Cancer Society, he became a graduate student in biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, where he graduated with a Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1949.[6] In 1948 he learned about hepatology, pathology, and oncology under the supervision of Hans Popper at Cook County Hospital.[7] From 1950 to 1961 Farber a faculty member at Tulane University, starting as an instructor and resigning as an associate professor.[6] Emmanuel and Ruth's daughter, Naomi Beth, was born in 1956. From 1961 to 1970 at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, he was a professor of pathology and chair of the department of pathology and also a professor in the department of biochemistry. From 1970 to 1975 he was the director of the Fels Research Institute (now called the Fels Cancer Institute for Personalized Medicine) and a professor of pathology and biochemistry at the Temple University School of Medicine. [6] From 1975 to 1985 he was a professor of pathology and chair of the department of pathology at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, as well as a professor in the University of Toronto's department of biochemistry. In 1985 he retired as professor emeritus,[1] but continued working in Toronto until his wife Ruth died in 1993.[3]
Farber's research demonstrated that carcinogens can bind to DNA, causing specific DNA adducts that promote cancer. He and his colleagues showed that cancer can be induced in the livers of laboratory animals by a step-by-step series of chemical treatments.[10] He was the author or coauthor of over 400 scientific publications.[6]
In May 2000 Farber married Henrietta Schleider née Keller (1915–2011).[17] Upon his death in 2014 he was survived by his daughter.[10] He is buried in the Hebrew Benevolent Society Cemetery in Columbia, South Carolina.[18] His daughter Naomi married Steven E. Grosby (a professor of religion) and became a professor of social work at the University of South Carolina.[3]
Farber, Emmanuel (1980). "The sequential analysis of liver cancer induction". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Reviews on Cancer. 605 (2): 149–166. doi:10.1016/0304-419X(80)90002-5. PMID6994812.
Ghoshal, Amiya K.; Farber, Emmanuel (1984). "The induction of liver cancer by dietary deficiency of choline and methionine without added carcinogens". Carcinogenesis. 5 (10): 1367–1370. doi:10.1093/carcin/5.10.1367. PMID6488458.
Gelderblom, W.C.A.; Semple, E.; Marasas, W.F.O.; Farber, E. (1992). "The cancer-initiating potential of the fumonisin B mycotoxins". Carcinogenesis. 13 (3): 433–437. doi:10.1093/carcin/13.3.433. PMID1547534.
Ghoshal, A. K.; Farber, E. (1993). "Choline deficiency, lipotrope deficiency and the development of liver disease including liver cancer: A new perspective". Laboratory Investigation; A Journal of Technical Methods and Pathology. 68 (3): 255–260. PMID7680728.
Faber, E.; Fisher, Murray M., eds. (1980). Toxic Injury of the Liver (Part B). Liver: Normal Function and Disease Ser., Vol. 2. Marcel Dekker. ISBN0824768396.
