He is best known for his collaborations with Alfred Gilman, Sr., with whom he authored the popular textbook The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics in 1941 and pioneered the first chemotherapy trials using nitrogen mustard.

[1] After interning at Johns Hopkins Hospital, he joined the Yale School of Medicine faculty, where he met Alfred Gilman.

[3] With knowledge that the compound depleted white blood cells, the pharmacologists experimented with intravenous injections on a terminally ill lymphosarcoma patient in Gustaf Lindskog's care.

[1][4] Then, in 1944, he moved to Salt Lake City to found a department of pharmacology at the University of Utah College of Medicine.

[1] Goodman retired in 1971 and remained in Salt Lake City for the remainder of his life, continuing to teach at the College of Medicine.