Category: Weekly post

Greetings on a lovely summer Sunday. The pace of meetings has slowed down a bit, and it’s good to have a breather, particularly since the last two summers were so busy and stressful as we geared up for our CCSG submission and site visit. However, the work most certainly continues. For example, we have activated our cancer center recruitment strategy, which will be done in collaboration with multiple departments and schools in the Georgetown University ecosystem. Our External Advisory Committee will be here to review our progress on September 16, so our summer breather will end soon. Fortunately, I have already completed a good first draft of my Director’s Overview, and I am proud of our continued progress.

You may have noted the launch of the Lombardi Landscape: Assessing DEI Across the Cancer Center survey. This survey, our first-ever, will allow us to have accurate information about the demographics of all who are affiliated with Lombardi and also provide important information about how our students, trainees, staff and faculty view our current efforts related to DEI. This work is an important part of our mission and our strategic plan.

The NCI CCSG sets requirements related to building an infrastructure and monitoring and tracking diversity, and we are working to meet these goals through our Lombardi DEI Office. This survey will allow us to collect and evaluate diversity metrics that will help improve the ways in which we support trainees and other members from groups underrepresented in science and cancer research.

If you have not already completed the brief survey, please do so. You should have received a personalized link by email on July 11. Importantly, all information is confidential. Your name will never be associated with your responses, and Lombardi leadership and administration will not have access to individual responses. All data will be de-identified. Associate Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Dr. Kristi Graves, in collaboration with Dr. Avonia Richardson-Miller, senior vice president and chief diversity officer at Hackensack Meridian Health, are spearheading these efforts. For more information, please see the Lombardi Landscape FAQs.

Make the world a better place this week.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

Greetings on a steamy Sunday evening in DC. We spent the weekend at the beach with dear friends from Philly who were our next door neighbors for many years and raised our children together. The weather was miserable, but the company was sublime.

While we were driving to dinner at a fabulous restaurant in Lewes, Del., we got the news about the assassination attempt on former President Trump, which left one innocent person dead with others critically injured. Much remains to be unraveled about this profoundly disturbing incident, ranging from how this could have happened, why it happened and what it means for the future. I find myself focusing on what it means for us as a people, and as a nation.

First, a personal aside, writing on behalf of nobody but me; I love life. Full stop – I love it. I understand that many people find it painful to live, and like anybody I have had my share of ups and downs in my own life journey. I also respect that many people view that this life is but a stop on a larger and longer eternal journey. I am not qualified to opine on when life starts or what happens after death.  However, I don’t want it to end, though I know it must, for me and for all living beings. I love life so much that I have dedicated my career to preserving it and protecting it from the mortal harms caused by cancer. 

So, I take all unnecessary deaths personally. I am pained whether death is caused by disease, by a terrible accident, by inhuman treatment or by willful violence. I am the descendant of innocent people who were objectified and dehumanized so that their mass murders became justifiable and acceptable to ordinary people. When do we (or can we) stop thinking about other people as symbols of the “other” as opposed to fellow human beings?

On Saturday evening we learned of an attempt by a young man to assassinate a former President of the United States.  Though I am no fan of that former President, I find it horrific that someone thought that the best way to express their grievance was to commit murder. 

I think that most people of good will love life and abhor the idea that murder can be justifiable. Our society cannot function without behavioral guardrails, ideally erected through the expression, acceptance and enforcement of moral constructs centered on the simple proposition that all forms of murder must end. 

Democrats and Republicans cannot be mortal enemies, however differently they view the world. We are all Americans, and more importantly we all love life. Let’s start acting that way.

Make the world a better place this week.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

Greetings on a very hot Sunday.

Harriet and I spent the weekend with our youngest son and his family. Those of you who have read this blog for a while may remember that our youngest grandchild, Clark, was born a little more than three years ago, when Dave and Kelly were working in New York City. Clark was diagnosed prenatally with a coarctation of the aorta and underwent successful surgical repair at one week of age. Following that inauspicious start to his life, he has developed beautifully in all possible ways. He is now a bona fide terror, and we simply couldn’t be happier about it. He was and remains our miracle baby.

Last week was notable for our 24th annual Men’s Event, held for the first time at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda. The setting was simply spectacular, and I think it was the best Men’s Event we have ever had. The cancer briefing was provided by Dr. Mohit Gupta, a urologist who described robotic prostatectomies using the DaVinci Robot. He illustrated the procedure with an actual video that beautifully demonstrated the complexity and unbelievable technology that makes this procedure feasible, effective and safe. It was a tour de force, and provided an oddly compelling pre-meal treat for the event’s attendees. More proof that miracles happen.

Every day, we perform miracles, in the clinic, in the OR, in the lab and in the classroom. Be that miracle this week and make the world a better place.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

V. Craig Jordan, PhD, DSc, pioneer of hormone therapy for the treatment of breast cancer, died June 9, 2024, at the age of 76. I worked with Craig from 2005 to 2008 when we were both at Fox Chase Cancer Center, and then here at Lombardi from 2009 to 2014, where he served as our scientific director.

Most of us know Craig as the first to discover the breast cancer preventive properties of tamoxifen. His findings revolutionized the field of breast cancer, leading to improved therapy options for millions of women and ushering in a new era of breast cancer prevention. Tamoxifen remains one of the most widely used anti-estrogen drugs in breast cancer treatment.

Some of us know that Craig was born in Texas but grew up in England. He was educated at Leeds University, and in his career worked there, in Switzerland and eventually here in the United States, first at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then at Northwestern, before he moved to Fox Chase, where he teamed up with his then-wife Monica Morrow as the quintessential “power couple” in breast oncology. Their home in the Philadelphia suburbs was truly remarkable, as was his collection of swords and antique firearms.

I was fortunate to convince Craig to join me shortly after I relocated to Georgetown; his recruitment was a sign to the rest of the world that Georgetown Lombardi was resuming its rightful place as one of the nation’s leading cancer centers. The recipient of numerous awards, including election to the National Academy of Sciences in 2009, he continued his highly impactful work here, collaborating with numerous distinguished colleagues, many of them friends as well.

Craig was truly larger than life. He had to live in Virginia when he moved here because of his exotic collections, which were not legal in DC. His life stories were the stuff of legend, and included his stint in the intelligence corps of the British army as a reserve officer in the Special Air Service (SAS), the famed British commando unit. He was one of the great raconteurs I have known.

Craig moved to MD Anderson in 2014, and we gradually lost touch over the years. He died following a seven-year battle with metastatic kidney cancer. But his impact has been enduring, and he left this world better than he found it. May he rest easy.

Make the world a better place this week.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

Greetings on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I head off to Houston for a cancer center EAB on Sunday evening, and am busy reviewing a copious amount of information in advance of the meeting.

I was expecting to spend Wednesday evening and Thursday at the Board of Directors meeting at Georgetown Downtown, but everything changed in a flash. We were notified that the Wednesday-evening dinner was cancelled, and shortly thereafter were informed that Jack DeGioia had suffered a stroke, was being treated at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, and was stable. As of this afternoon, there has been no further substantive update.

Jack is a remarkable leader and exemplifies all that is good about Georgetown. He is a deeply good man whose unerring moral compass provides all of us at the University with a coherent mission, stability and purpose that is rare in these troubled times.

All we can do is wait and hope for his speedy and full recovery. But like everyone who knows Jack, I care for his well-being and am keeping him and his family in my thoughts.

Make the world a better place this week.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

Greetings from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago. I remain awed by the unbelievable extent and depth of the clinical research being presented at this absolutely huge meeting. I am writing this blog after a very long Saturday that started with a 7 a.m. flight. I am so tired that I chose to forgo the annual Lombardi get-together at a local establishment; I hope my colleagues understood.

I just want to take a moment to thank Ed Healton as he enters his final month of service as the medical center EVP. He took on an exceptionally challenging task in 2015 as interim EVP, planning to do that job for two years. Nine years later, here we are.

When I think about Ed’s tenure, several thoughts leap to mind. First of all, when he assumed his new responsibilities, he asked me to escort him to Lombardi’s labs and clinics so he could meet folks, see the facilities and immerse himself in his role. I was quite taken by his sincerity, gentlemanly demeanor and genuine warmth as we walked around. It was an early insight into his fundamental humanity.

The limits of that humanity were profoundly tested by the pandemic. His humility and steady hand proved to be pivotal as Georgetown navigated through a challenge unlike any in its history. We somehow emerged from that dark period not only intact, but better and more cohesive, bound by the experience of how we confronted and overcame common adversity. A lesser leader would have failed.

Ed’s time as EVP has positioned GUMC for future success by strengthening its sense of community through the re-energization of the Research Committee. He has promoted important collaborations across the University and has re-energized GUMC’s relationship with MedStar Health, through our Scientific and Educational Councils and by resurrecting the Council of Chairs. He reorganized GUMC research, creating two new schools of Health and Nursing, each with distinctive and crisp missions that resonate with GUMC’s key priorities.

I am grateful for his support of the cancer center’s mission, marked by two renewals of our comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute. We have had many conversations, many of them wonderful, some of them difficult, over the years, but Lombardi is stronger and more impactful in 2024 than it was in 2015.

Ed has my gratitude and best wishes as he moves into the next chapter of his life. What on earth will he do without three looming catastrophes and 10 Zoom calls each day? I’ll bet he can’t wait to find out.

He has made Georgetown a better place. Let’s honor his service by making the world a little bit better this week, each in our own way.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

Greetings on an absolutely glorious Saturday morning. By the time you read this week’s blog, Memorial Day observance will have come and gone.

Traffic to the Delaware beaches was especially horrible when we drove in after I finished my work. Our maps app directed us to a detour off Route 50 before we got to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (aka the scariest bridge in the USA). However, the detour was even more crowded than the main road (no doubt due to other users of Waze), so we shrugged our shoulders and found a place to eat in West Annapolis called Chessie’s. It’s a burger-and-beer-type place, but it was quick and really good. Bonus: There is a nice ice cream shop nearby.

By the time we were done, traffic had thinned out a bit and we made our way across the bridge, detouring past the U.S. Naval Academy and a memorial to the fallen in World War II. It is a powerful reminder that Memorial Day is far more than a long weekend that kicks off summer festivities. It teaches that freedom is not free, and that the courage and sacrifice of many people were terrible but necessary prices that they paid so that all of us can strive to achieve our best selves.

So, when you are grilling something with family and friends this summer, and perhaps enjoying your favorite libation, remember to pause for a moment to thank those who made all of this possible.

Make the world a better place this week.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

Congratulations to all of our Georgetown University graduates. For many of them, this is a chance to “make up” for what was not possible during the pandemic.

I missed the on-campus activities, as we went away with friends for a long weekend trip to southern Vermont to enjoy the spring countryside. It was a fabulous getaway. We flew from DC to Burlington, Vermont, where I completed my internal medicine residency and chief residency a long time ago.

Perhaps it is the faulty memory of an aging brain, or the extraordinary changes in any community over four decades, but I barely recognized the place (though I would be on more familiar turf in the downtown portion of Burlington). The drive from the airport was easy, and predictably beautiful.

One of our companions studies evolutionary biology in cancer, and during our walks through the woods, our conversations turned to the dazzling complexity of the environment and the seemingly endless adaptations that maintain the ecosystem’s equilibrium. We could not help but wonder at the hubris of humans, who believe we can control these processes and influence health and diseases rather well.

Looking at this from a 40,000-foot (or 1,000,000 year) perspective, one can see this as a deadly serious, multidimensional game of evolutionary chess. We make our moves, which are seemingly successful efforts (in one or two dimensions), while the “ecosystem” makes a series of countermoves in multiple dimensions of varying cadence. We play a fascinating pas de deux with the ultimate grandmaster.

I was captivated by this idea in part because I attended an amazing presentation this past week by David Liu from the Broad Institute, entitled “Laboratory Evolution of Genome Editing Proteins for Precise Gene Correction and Targeted Gene Integration in Mammalian Cells.” He and his team, and their many collaborators and competitors around the world, can do just that. It is no longer science fiction or boastful overreach; it can be readily reduced to practice. They can fundamentally alter the human genome to prevent or treat diseases. The concepts and the data are simply jaw-dropping. This is the next “big thing” in biomedical research. It is going to be a fundamental building block of translational biomedical research for the foreseeable future.

So, what happens when fatal genetic diseases are cured by these approaches? How will this be done? Will it be done equitably? Can (and should) we suppress our inevitable desires to “improve” the germline, to accelerate evolution, which is slow but sure when it comes to creating and selecting favorable characteristics? A wonderful recent book by Yuval Noah Harari, “21 Lessons for the 21st Century,” has explored some of these issues, which are both thrilling and terrifying.

These issues are so overwhelming to consider that I really treasured the opportunity to walk in the woods with Harriet and cherished friends, marveling at all that could be accomplished by old-fashioned natural selection, looking forward to a busy week, refreshed by an interlude filled with wonder.

Make the world a better place this week.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

I hope you had a great weekend. Mother’s Day was lovely for us, and I hope it was for you too.

Happy Mother’s Day!

I have been thinking about my late mother and grandmothers, and of course celebrate all the mothers in my immediate and extended family. But I would be remiss if I did not think of all the mothers who have been my patients. Some of them have emerged from their cancer challenges intact, but changed, while others succumbed to their illnesses, leaving behind grieving loved ones and tears in the fabrics of their communities that can never be fully mended. I honor their memories each Mother’s Day.

It has become customary for breast cancer fundraising to be a focus on Mother’s Day, and that is a good and necessary thing. However, the vast majority of my patients have suffered from other cancers, and we must always remember the urgency of the task before us — to cure all cancers in all people, as our highest priority and with a sense of urgency.

We are making progress. As I noted at the time of our CCSG site visit in September, cancer death rates in the District of Columbia have dropped by about 50% since 2000. That is heartening progress, but continued investments in research are needed for us to achieve our goals of halving cancer death rates yet again over the next 15 years or so. We owe this to our mothers and to all of their children, now and in the future.

Make the world a better place this week.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

Greetings on a rainy Sunday morning. I am recovering from quite a week. After our wonderful Lombardi Gala, the week then was highlighted by the exciting receipt of our Notice of Grant Award for our CCSG. It was expected, but it still felt pretty terrific, I must say.

However, I am still feeling the psychic aftershocks of the CCSG competitive renewal process. On Saturday night, I had a work-related performance anxiety dream of the highest order. It was the day of our site visit, and I was ready to do the Director’s Overview. However, I didn’t have the cable to connect my laptop to the internet (don’t blame me for any deviations from reality in my dreamscape). Somebody found the cable while the site visitors waited. However, the laptop and the mouse kept slipping off the table in front of me. Then Clark, our youngest grandson, detached the cable from the laptop — another delay. Finally I started, but the company helping with the AV had switched the presentation, with one that had a flower-filled background and described what life is like as a Georgetown student. Then I woke up. I think I need a bit of a reset!

Meanwhile, back on Earth, I want to note that this is National Nurses Week. Complex medical care requires expert nurses, and we are very lucky to have wonderful nurses who are our patients’ best advocates. At Georgetown Lombardi, we also are so fortunate to work with clinical research nurses and coordinators who help us offer hope and tomorrow’s treatments today to our patients. They earn our appreciation every single day.

Be well, and make the world a better place this week.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.