A Research Hero

Dr. Alice Shaw, a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, is one of today's top doctors in the field of targeted cancer therapy. Patients from all over the U.S. (and some internationals) participate in her clinical trials, which have led to many important findings in treating cancer at the molecular level. It's amazing to think that just ten years ago, targeted therapy was in its infancy, and now researchers are developing second and third generation drugs to treat cancer more effectively. Here's a short interview with Dr. Shaw which appeared on the Lungevity website. I especially like the part where she discusses the fact that the next big challenge is to look at how to overcome  the mechanisms of drug resistance, a long-term problem with targeted therapies like the one I am on. These therapies typically work well, but only for a certain amount of time; then the cancer figures out how to outsmart the drug and comes raging back. When drug resistance is overcome, thanks to brilliant researchers like Dr. Shaw, the landscape of cancer treatment will shift dramatically. Instead of being a terminal illness, cancer could be cured (at best), or perhaps will just become a manageable chronic health problem instead of a fatal disease.

 Lungevity is a lung cancer research non-profit, and if you're in a giving mood, you can learn more about how to support their research here.