Most of the people responsible for cancer immunotherapy are missing from this book.
Stories love a hero, but science doesn’t really work that way. By necessity, this science story shines a penlight on a handful of individuals. The bulk of the major characters sit more quietly, in the endnotes and appendix; others are missing entirely. They are not a supporting cast but the cast itself, and yet if each were introduced this book would be unreadable. Even less heralded are the countless patients who volunteered their lives. If we’re looking for heroes, we start with the authors listed in the academic papers, and the patients who are not. Another important acknowledgment is that every breakthrough is built on the ruins of shattered certainties. Those in this book will also surely change as research continues. It’s changing quickly.
This book was made possible in part by the vision and generosity of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Special thanks to Doron Weber, Program Director for Public Understanding of Science, Technology Economics, who knows writing as only a great author can, and loss as only a father can. He’s a true mensch and champion of the arts.
Many of the people in this book are literally curing cancer yet somehow found time to let me bother them repeatedly. This book is possible only because of their generous patience and tutelage. Visionary publisher Sean Desmond bravely took on this project and the years required. Susan Golomb somehow helped find a home for a breakthrough few had heard of; her father, Dr. Frederick M. Golomb, had experienced the confounding failure of immunotherapies in the 1950s and ’60s and so was my first skeptic. Thanks for the above and beyond from Matt Tontonoz; Brian Brewer; Mary Riner; Rachel Kambury; Adam Piore; Dragon Yung Mei Tang; Starvos Polentas; Michael “The Wheel” Lafortune; Pete Mulvihill; Cary Goldstein; Dr. J.D. Kauffman; Mac Reynolds; Arun Divakaruni; Matt, Jana, and Master Thomas in Farmington; Margaret Van Cleve, io360, and Julia Gunther at AACR; Nick and Caroline, who kept spirits bright; the patient and kind Bob Castillo; the ultimate immunoeditor, the legendary Ann Patty; and Dr. Charles W. Graeber, who turns good students into great physicians and is as fine a doctor, friend, and father as one could hope for. Diann Graeber, you already got a dedication so I know this makes you laugh. Special appreciation for the patients and their families, named or otherwise, whose deeply personal stories are no small thing to trust a stranger with. I am grateful to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the inspiring visits of Elizabeth and Sabine Wood during my seasons of seclusion, as well as The Writers Room NYC, Java Studios Greenpoint, and the Grey Lady in winter. The often patient Gabrielle Allen truly makes all things possible. Thanks and celebration to her family for the long and Mainey life of Dr. Tom T. Allen, beloved pugilist, sailor, and osteopath. In remembrance and gratitude for the extraordinary life of Camilla Sewall Wood, and to the Baldwin family for the inconsolable loss of Malcolm. In memory of John P. Kauffman, 1971–2018, a really great guy gone too soon.
Cancer Research Institute William P. Coley Award Recipients
2017: Rafi Ahmed, PhD; Thomas F. Gajewski, MD, PhD. 2016: Ton N. Schumacher, PhD; Dan R. Littman, MD, PhD. 2015: Glenn Dranoff, MD; Alexander Y. Rudensky, PhD. 2014: Tasuku Honjo, MD, PhD; Lieping Chen, MD, PhD; Arlene Sharpe, MD, PhD; Gordon Freeman, PhD. 2013: Michael B. Karin, PhD. 2012: Richard A. Flavell, PhD, FRS; Laurie H. Glimcher, MD; Kenneth M. Murphy, MD, PhD; Carl H. June, MD; Michel Sadelain, MD, PhD. 2011: Philip D. Greenberg, MD; Steven A. Rosenberg, MD, PhD. 2010: Haruo Ohtani, MD; Wolf Hervé Fridman, MD, PhD; Jérôme Galon, PhD. 2009: Cornelis J.M. Melief, MD, PhD; Frederick W. Alt, PhD; Klaus Rajewsky, MD. 2008: Michael J. Bevan, PhD, FRS. 2007: Jeffrey V. Ravetch, MD, PhD. 2006: Shizuo Akida, MD, PhD; Bruce A. Beutler, MD; Ian H. Frazer, MD; Harald zur Hausen, MD. 2005: James P. Allison, PhD. 2004: Shimon Sakaguchi, MD, PhD; Ethan M. Shevach, MD. 2003: Jules A. Hoffmann, PhD; Bruno Lemaitre, PhD; Charles A. Janeway Jr., MD; Ruslan Medzhitov, PhD. 2002: Lewis L. Lanier, PhD; David H. Raulet, PhD; Mark John Smyth, PhD. 2001: Robert D. Schreiber, PhD. 2000: Mark M. Davis, PhD; Michael G. M. Pfreundschuh, MD. 1999: Richard A. Lerner, MD; Greg Winter, PhD; James E. Darnell Jr., MD; Ian M. Kerr, PhD, FRS; George R. Stark, PhD. 1998: Klas Kärre, MD, PhD; Lorenzo Moretta, MD; Ralph M. Steinman, MD. 1997: Robert L. Coffman, PhD; Tim R. Mosmann, PhD; Stuart F. Schlossman, MD. 1996: Giorgio Trinchieri, MD. 1995: Timothy A. Springer, PhD; Malcolm A. S. Moore, PhD; Ferdy J. Lejeune, MD, PhD. 1993: Pamela Bjorkman, PhD; Jack Strominger, MD; Don Wiley, PhD; John Kappler, PhD; Phillippa Marrack, PhD; Alvaro Morales, MD, FRCSC, FACS. 1989: Howard Grey, MD; Alain Townsend, PhD; Emil R. Unanue, MD, PhD. 1987: Thierry Boon, PhD; Rolf M. Zinkernagel, MD, PhD. 1983: Richard K. Gershon, MD. 1979: Yuang-yun Chu, MD; Zongtang Sun, MD; Zhao-you Tang, MD. 1978: Howard B. Andervont, PhD; Jacob Furth, MD; Margaret C. Green, PhD; Earl L. Green, PhD; Walter E. Heston, PhD; Clarence C. Little, PhD; George D. Snell, PhD; Leonell C. Strong, PhD. 1975: Garry I. Abelev, MD, PhD; Edward A. Boyse, MD; Edgar J. Foley; Robert A. Good, MD, PhD; Peter A. Gorer, FRS; Ludwik Gross, MD; Gertruda Henle, MD; Werner Henle, MD; Robert J. Huebner, MD; Edmund Klein, MD; Eva Klein, MD; Georg Klein, MD, PhD; Donald L. Morton, MD; Lloyd J. Old, MD; Richmond T. Prehn, MD; Hans O. Sjogren, PhD.
CRI Lloyd J. Old Award Recipients
2018: Antoni Ribas MD, PhD. 2017: Olivera J. Finn, PhD. 2016: Ronald Levy, MD. 2015: Carl H. June, MD. 2014: Robert D. Schreiber, PhD. 2013: James P. Allison, PhD.