I hope everybody has enjoyed a lovely summer weekend. Life has slowed down a bit for me so far in the summer, and I have been able to catch up on a lot of tasks. We had a lovely July 4 weekend with our family, and the four-day work week that follows a holiday always makes it feel as if we had a mini-vacation.
However, there is still a lot going on! On Tuesday, a group of us (including Michael Vander Hoek, Ellen McLaughlin, Carolyn Hurley and Bob Brier) met with Linda Weiss, Hasnaa Shafik and several of their colleagues from the Cancer Centers branch of the NCI. We updated them regarding our progress as we commence the ramp-up to our CCSG resubmission, and also described our recent EAB meeting. We received genuinely helpful information that will inform our activities going forward, along with a clear sense that they feel we are headed on the right track. It was a very good meeting.
On Wednesday, I was honored to speak at the Hyundai Hope on Wheels event in the Lombardi atrium. This is the eighth year that Hyundai has provided support for pediatric cancer survivorship work at Lombardi, to a total of $360,000. Aziza Shad has been a recipient before, and this year’s award of $50,000 will support the work of Scott Myers. Congratulations to Scott! The event was well attended by patients, their families, staff and representatives from local Hyundai dealers. One dealer is actually from the Pittsburgh area, and is Congressman Mike Kelly (R-PA). He spoke from the heart about his passion for this cause and we look forward to welcoming him back to Georgetown Lombardi in the future to learn more about what we do.
The keynote speaker was Brianna Commerford, a 12-year old survivor of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma who is the charity’s national spokesperson. She is a remarkable and inspiring young lady.
Later that day, I chaired a meeting to discuss our possible response to a U01 request for applications to develop ways to identify and validate drug targets based upon the TCGA and related initiates. We have remarkable depth in these areas, and the discussion was really invigorating. We’ll certainly submit one or two responses to this RFA.
Harriet and I were in North Jersey this weekend to attend the wedding of one of our nephews, so I spent more time inside than outside this weekend. I hope you all didn’t make the same mistake!