Professor and Director of the Salk Cancer Center Reuben Shaw addressed the President’s Club at its annual holiday luncheon on November 29, speaking about the science behind Salk’s plan to defeat five deadly cancers. Contributions at the President’s Club level are allocated to the areas of greatest need and make it possible to recruit and retain top-tier scientists, acquire the latest technology and fuel innovative research initiatives.
Taking on the Big FiveCancer is not like other diseases. Most conditions have external causes—bacteria, viruses, injury—but cancer comes from inside us. Cells go rogue, divide recklessly, invade other tissues and spread throughout the body. They do things normal cells cannot do.
Dan Lewis – Intense ConnectionFew trustees have had a connection as intensely personal as new Board Chair Dan Lewis, who knows firsthand that cures, indeed, begin with Salk. Thanks to the research of Salk Professor Tony Hunter, the drug Gleevec was born. And thanks to Gleevec, Lewis survived leukemia.
Jared SmithNeuroscientist and self-described history geek Jared Smith wants to boldly go where no one has gone before. “If this were the 1400s,” asks Smith, “and we were Europeans exploring the world, where is the new world?” For Smith and colleagues in Xin Jin’s lab, the answer is simple: the brain.
