Introduction to Mathematical Oncology

Chapter 13

Epilogue: Toward a Quantitative Theory of Oncology

Medicine is both art and science. As promised in the introduction, this book has focused primarily on the scientific side of the medical subfield of oncology. Specifically, we explored applications of mathematics, primarily dynamical systems, to cancer biology and treatment. We have attempted to give readers a glimpse of a few major research threads in the developing field of mathematical oncology, with an emphasis on seminal work, applications to treatment, and biological background and motivations.

The growth of the field in the last 10 years alone precludes any attempt on our part at a comprehensive survey, and for this we owe many of our colleagues, whose work we deeply appreciate, ...