CANCER, mankind's most feared disease, has been stubbornly resisting the onslaught of medicine since the days of Hippocrates.

It is today the second leading cause of death in the U.S. (after heart disease) and a subject of intensive study by researchers around the world. One of the foremost of these is this week's cover subject, Dr. Robert Good, director of New York's Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. Dr. Good specializes in immunology, using the body's own natural defenses to fight cancer. In recent weeks, he has been sharing his experiences with Medicine Writer Peter Stoler who, aided by Reporter-Researcher Andrea Chambers, wrote and did much of the reporting for this week's cover story.

Stoler and Good, it turned out, have more in common than their interest in immunology. The scientist, a onetime country boy, and the reporter, an incurable morning jogger, are both early risers. Their initial meeting was over lunch, but they subsequently had most of their discussions in Good's office from 6 a.m. to 8 or 9 a.m.

Last month both attended a Florida conference on immunology, and while fellow conferees slept, Stoler and Good continued their talks over chilled orange juice, watching the sun rise over St. Petersburg.

Not all of Stoler's sources greeted the day at dawn, however, and during more civilized hours he interviewed cancer researchers from the University of Wisconsin, the University of California and the National Institutes of Health, as well as representatives from a number of cancer treatment centers. What began to emerge was solid evidence that immunology might well lead to a successful control of cancer. "The problem now," cautions Stoler, "is that doctors can't make it work all the time or with everybody. There's no 'magic bullet' yet for cancer, but this seems to be one of the most encouraging developments in years."

A former newspaper reporter and radio-documentary writer, Stoler began writing TIME'S Medicine section 2 1/2 years ago and now cuts his way through eight to ten medical journals a week. "I reduce things to terms that I can understand, and I figure if I can understand them, I can make the reader understand them," he says. "The challenge is to take a fairly complex procedure and explain it in simple, everyday language without losing any accuracy."

His early interviews with Good behind him, Stoler is back to running two miles before breakfast each weekday morning, sometimes seven or eight miles on the weekends. "I suppose everybody has got his hang-up," he says a trifle defensively. "I'm hooked on exercise." And on early mornings.

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