On scientists and boxers
I just ran into an article in Boston Globe on how John Quack enbush is planning to fight cancer by boxing.
Anyway to fight cancer should be a good thing. What provoked me in this article is the quote:
‘I know a lot of people think I am crazy doing this. But I think what we’re doing is a metaphor for what patients go through.’
John Quackenbush, physicist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and new boxer
No John, hopefully you will never know what patients go through and comparing training and a three round boxing match with another amateur to the suffering cancer patients and their families go through is offensive.
Perhaps try a three months daily bout with Mike Tyson, assuming he does not feel like knocking you cold in the first second of the match.
I would like to propose that Boston Globe covers Arthur Pardee at Dana Farber, an inspiring scientist not an amateur boxer-scientist. Arthur is 94 years old. But he is still thinking about cancer and the knowledge he produced and catalyzed inspires us daily. I am also told he shows up in his office at Farber. He also plays the cello. I think it’s a great story to cover.
Arthur Pardee is a humble scientist who made countless and seminal contributions to biology and cancer research.
So let me convert my indignation into a potentially useful suggestion.
I propose crowdfunding a new campaign for understanding cancer and relevant physiology in honor of Arthur Pardee.
We can stand up to cancer on his shoulders to catalyze the quest for understanding, preventing and curing cancer. He is a living inspiration to all of us.
I am personally pledging a $1000 to start this campaign, not to mention many work hours and infinite passion working on computational biology of human disease.
I do appreciate the effort by John. I know him well and he typically does what he can to contribute. However, I think we need higher aims for inspiring the science and medicine of cancer than the boxing metaphor. Arthur is the best example of aiming higher.
The campaign we need is for a better understanding: “Know Your Enemy”.
From Wikipedia, The Art of War
“So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose. If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.”
Here are a few examples how better understanding leads to novel ideas and clinically viable solutions.
Predicting Drug Targets in Cancer
Monitoring Drug Response in the Tumor
Reprogramming Cancer Stem Cells
Cancer Drivers with Systems Biology
Cancer Panels for Precision Medicine
The only thing we want to fight is ignorance, apathy and lack creativity. It will take all we can manufacture to stand-up to cancer.
