characteristics of its victims. leslie bernstein: we have a program here at the university of southern california called the cancer surveillance program. this is one of a number of population based cancer registries around the country. a population based cancer registry defines geographic boundaries of a population and then collects information on cancer that develops in the population living within that geographic boundary. in the late 1970s, brian henderson was working at a mission hospital in new guinea when the chinese government asked him to be a consultant on cancer. dr. henderson: premiere zhou en lai had bladder cancer. in the course of his illness, he became interested in cancer and actually was a mover in getting a national register of cancer cases. a million barefoot doctors in every village in china recorded every cause of death.