It has been a very full past seven days. The week started in Philadelphia, where Harriet and I spent Sunday evening, the first night of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, with my father and other family members. We returned home the following day.
Tuesday was filled with meetings, including a delightful lunch with Lee Reed, Georgetown University’s Athletic Director; it was great to get to know him better. On Wednesday I participated in two separate benefit events, including a reception in the evening at the home of Mark and Molly Decker for the Lombardi Gala Committee. Mark and Molly have been longtime supporters of the Gala, and we had a lovely time. I joined the Gala co-chairs, Paul Schweitzer, Brian Katz and Jill Kilpatrick (each of whom has been a fabulous friend of Lombardi) and Mark in thanking the guests for their support, and then yielded the floor to DeMaurice (De) Smith, who is once again the Gala’s Honorary Chair. De is the President of the NFL Players Association, and is by training a prosecutor, litigator and is a very experienced trial lawyer. As he was raised in a family full of preachers, his natural speaking talents have been sharpened by his life experiences. In short, I will never allow myself to follow this mesmerizing speaker, because anyone who follows him is simply wasting his or her time! His commitment to Lombardi is so deeply appreciated and important; we are so very lucky to have De in our corner.
However, Thursday was determined to not be outdone by Wednesday. After a busy morning of meetings, a group of us headed up to Rockville for our CCSG pre-application meeting with Linda Weiss and colleagues at the NCI Cancer Centers Program. We presented the current state of Lombardi, and learned a lot about the new guidelines that will be used to evaluate CCSGs effective early next year. Basically, the emphasis will be more on the quality and impact of our science than it is on dry metrics. We came away with our questions answered, lots of useful feedback and a good feeling about our level of preparation and plans for the submission of our CCSG competitive renewal.
Right from there I headed straight to the Willard Hotel for a reception hosted by Hyundai Corporation’s Hope on Wheels, which has been an important supporter of pediatric oncology research and care at Georgetown. I had to leave there to attend a reception at the NFL Players Association office for the Mark Hulkower Foundation, which supports colon cancer research; Mark was an associate of De Smith, and was John Marshall’s neighbor and patient. John gave an inspiring talk at the event; and De Smith remarked that people would start talking about us if we kept seeing each other so frequently. I suggested that he could do better…
And then there was Friday. It started with an 8 am talk at the New Faculty Orientation, followed by a meeting with our Visiting Professor last week, Peter Adamson.
I then hustled off to the Convention Center to give a talk to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Health BrainTrust event regarding the impact of cancer screening guidelines on underserved communities. I put a lot of effort into preparing for that talk, and was assisted by a great team that included Lauren Wolkoff, Karen Mallet, Lucile Adams-Campbell and Jeanne Mandelblatt. This was a poignant event for me; the former chair of the Foundation was Congressman Donald Payne, a patient of mine who succumbed to colon cancer earlier this year. He was a wonderful man and a great American, and it was a privilege to know him and care for him. I was not going to mention this personal connection due to HIPAA and out of respect to his family, but as luck would have it I ran into the Congressman’s brother at the Convention Center. He was thrilled to grant me permission to mention his brother and I happily did so. And, the folks in attendance certainly shared my warm feelings about the Congressman. I then hurried back to Georgetown for three more meetings, the last one of which ended after 6 pm.
Saturday was a family day, but I got back to work on Sunday to attend and participate in the MedStar-Georgetown Research Retreat at Kent Manor Inn, just outside of Annapolis. The growing alignment of these two organizations was clearly in evidence, and I do look forward to follow up actions that allow us to better realize the full potential of our partnership.
It has been quite busy, but there is so much good stuff going on, that every busy minute is worth the effort! I hope you have lots of effective and satisfying minutes this coming week.