 
Dear readers, I am proud to report that our cancer research effort is burgeoning. We have more than 200 scientists actively engaged in cancer research at the medical center, on the Davis campus and at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Exciting collaborations are flourishing among scientists at all three sites, with tremendous potential for the future. In this issue of Synthesis, you will meet five of our gifted cancer investigators: Hongwu Chen, Ronald Wisdom, Kenneth Kaplan, Karen Lindfors and Alyson Mitchell. Chen, Wisdom and Kaplan are exploring the molecular missteps that give rise to cancer, groundwork we hope will lead to important new methods of preventing, diagnosing and treating the disease. Lindfors is looking for a way to make mammograms more accurate. Mitchell is studying how fruits and vegetables reduce cancer risk. You will also meet four very special members of our community in these pages: Neil and Carla Andrews of Davis, and Virgil Traynor and Richard Azevedo of Auburn. These good people help support the work of investigators like Chen, Kaplan, Lindfors and Mitchell. The Andrews, who devoted their careers to oncology, have agreed to donate a portion of their estate to bolster cancer research at UC Davis. Traynor and Azevedo are spearheading a community effort to create a million-dollar endowment for the cancer center. A great cancer program truly depends on community contributions. Unlike government and foundation grants, which most often foster well-established, ongoing research efforts, charitable contributions can more easily seed pioneering investigations -the kind that often blaze new trails in medicine. Charitable contributions also play a major role in the establishment of endowed professorships and chairs that enable us to recruit nd retain top senior scientists. Our role in the war on cancer very much relies on private philanthropy. So do patients like Franklyn Barber, a remarkable young man who was diagnosed with brain cancer three years ago. Franklyn, whose story is told in this edition, is doing marvelously today following treatment by Edie Zusman, leader of our brain tumor program, and a team of multidisciplinary specialists. This brave boy is back in school, playing ball and making the honor roll. We in the cancer program are extremely grateful to all of you who help make happy endings like this one possible.
Sincerely,
Ralph W.
deVere White, MD
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deVere White, |
