peds – From the Desk of Dr. Louis M. Weiner

Out the Door

The completed CCSG renewal application (1243 pages of pure poetry) goes to the printer in less than 2 hours. What else is there to say?

It has been quite an experience and I am delighted to have shared it with so many of you over the past year. Unbelievably I managed to do some work on behalf of the cancer center in the midst of the surprisingly serene final days of sending out the grant.

On Monday morning I welcomed a remarkable group of investigators who attended a childhood cancer workshop host by Subha Madhavan. The workshop aimed to design a data portal to study pediatric malignancies. While I wasn’t able to attend all of it, great ideas were flying around the Warwick Evans conference room while I was there.

On Tuesday I paid a quick visit to the American Legacy Foundation open house to congratulate Dave Abrams on his accomplishments in establishing and staffing the Schroader Institute. I really look forward to seeing the Shroeder Institute and Lombardi work together to study and influence tobacco use.

Now that the core grant is (almost) out the door, I can turn my attention to finishing two RC2 grants, doing a couple of grant reviews for an upcoming P01 study section, and wrapping up the GUMC systems medicine design team deliberations in advance of an upcoming retreat. After wrestling the core grant into submission, everything else seems a bit easier in comparison.

Have a great Memorial Day holiday.

Hope on Wheels

On Wednesday, Lombardi hosted the now annual Hyundai Hope on Wheels Event. This year, Aziza Shad’s pediatric survivorship program received a $40,000 check from the Washington area Hyundai dealers, bringing their contributions to more than $200,000 over the past five years. The touching handprint ceremony celebrates the achievements of our pediatric team and the brave patients we serve. In recognition of the event, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty proclaimed Wednesday, September 24th, 2008, the official Hope on Wheels Day for the District of Columbia.

On that note, I hope that many of you have had a chance to meet Joe Teague, who is spearheading Lombardi’s Advancement efforts. Joe is working hard to identify and expand our donor base, and we are putting together case statements for our high priority initiatives. You’ll hear more about them in the near future. We are fortunate to have unified and powerful support for our fundraising efforts from all of the important stakeholders at Georgetown. We need to be patient, since it will take time to create and benefit from having a real fundraising engine, but I am very optimistic.

For next week, please mark your calendars to attend the Fisher Center’s first annual lecture coming up on Thursday. The speaker, Dr. Steven Narod, was named the most highly cited scientist in the world in the field of breast cancer.

Finally, I spent time in the Lombardi clinic yesterday so John Deeken could show me the ropes. My first day seeing patients is in the middle of next month. While I’ll have to keep my practice small, I really look forward to getting back to patient care; I am always inspired by my patients, and reminded that cancer research should always be conducted with the knowledge that people depend on us to help them. We have lots of work to do!