Tuesday, June 27, 2006

This Cancer Researcher Gave Me a Shower Curtain...

From Law.com: Employment Case Puts Johns Hopkins Under the Microscope

"Dr. Young Ko believes that she has found a cure for cancer.

Using an inexpensive drug named 3-bromopyruvate, the Johns Hopkins University researcher was able to eliminate advanced liver cancer in lab animals. Earlier this year, after her work was profiled by the Baltimore Sun, dozens of cancer patients and their families contacted the medical school to ask when human trials would begin.

Not any time soon, it would seem. Ko's research is now at the center of a bitter employment dispute between the researcher and the university. " ...read more


Despite the political infighting at Johns Hopkins and the red tape, Dr. Ko has a grant from the Susan G. Komen Foundation and is going to be studying the effects of the drug 3-bromopyruvate (3-BrPA) on breast cancer and metastatic cancers.

She and one of my best friends (and bridesmaid) Wendy sent me a sequinned shower curtain as a wedding present, and I am so tardy on my thank you notes that I have yet to thank them.

Thank you, Dr. Ko. Thank you very much for the shower curtain and for the work that you are doing which has actual applications instead of being theoretical. Thank you for working on a way of combating tumors that seems to be non-toxic. Chemotherapy is a crap-shoot and is extremely unpleasant. I'd love to be involved in human trials--I'm sure there are many who would be. I hope the politics of your situation do not get you down and that you are able to progress with your work. You have my heartfelt admiration and gratitude.

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