After months in hospital after being seriously wounded, he returned to City College earning a bachelor's degree in statistics.
An early job at the American Cancer Society, where he was hired as a statistical clerk, turned into a 43-year career.
In the early 1950s, scientists began to suspect the link between smoking and cancer, but statistically valid evidence didn't yet exist.
An early study that he performed with his seniors, tracking more than 150,000 people for about 3 and a half years, demonstrated a significant correlation.
Garfinkel also worked on studies of the pathology of lung cancer and precancer, and demonstrated statistical correlation between length of smoking and the amount of tissue change.