By Marjory Inglis, health reporter

A NEW slant on cancer treatment and research is revealed in a quirky and fascinating public exhibition that opened in Ninewells Hospital, Dundee yesterday.

It features drugs and equipment dating back to the turn of the 20th century, profiles local doctors making important cancer discoveries decades ago and comes bang up to date with current cancer care.

Called “Caird, Chemo and Caring,” the exhibition coincides with the 100th anniversary of the creation of Caird Cancer Hospital, better known to generations of Dundonians as the red brick Caird block of the former Dundee Royal Infirmary.

The block was built as the city’s first cancer hospital with an £18,000 donation by textile manufacturer and benefactor Sir James Caird.

He gave a further £1000 a year for five years to establish a cancer researcher in the city, but without further substantial donations the building quickly lost its specialist tag and fell into general hospital use.

Over the last 15 years cancer research has been given phenomenal public support and the exhibition recognises the £16 million donated by the Tayside and Fife population to the Ninewells Cancer Appeal during that time.

Dundee University’s medical museum curator Dr Graham Lowe put the exhibition together.

“We want to celebrate the centenary of the Caird Cancer Hospital and we want to give a glimpse of how our understanding of cancer has developed from ancient times, showing some of the treatment advances through the 20th century, particularly the Dundee connections,” he said.

The exhibition features a display about the Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre, where people with cancer get emotional and practical support.

“That holistic side of medicine is terribly important and something we emphasise to all our young doctors in training,” said Dr Lowe.

The exhibition will be formally opened next week.