Remembering José

[摘要] It was shocking news. My colleague, Marty Murphy, sent themessage that José Baselga, 61, had died in the prime of hiscareer, felled by a devastating neurological disease,Creutzfeldt-Jakob. The sadness I experienced recalled my reaction to first hearing of the death of John F. Kennedy. In thebrief period since José’s passing, much has been written abouthis transformative impact on cancer research, beginning withhis work with John Mendelsohn on EGFR antibody therapy inthe early 1990s and culminating with key trials on HER2 antibodies and targeted drugs. It was not just the trials, the discoveries that changed breast cancer treatment, the carefullyexecuted translational studies that showed the impact of therapy at a molecular level. No, he did more. He inspired andemboldened so many others, especially younger researchers,to pursue pioneering pathways with the same intensity andpersistence. I can best illustrate this latter point by describinghis impact during his two years at my institution, the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center (MGH).

[学科分类] 地质学