Each day, on my frequent walks around the ACTREC campus, I see
this bridge. I also walk across it. From along the bridge, there are some nice views of the campus and the hills beyond. I've spoken with Dr. Rajiv Sarin about the reality and the metaphor of this bridge. I have asked him to talk more about this later. I hope that he agrees to do this.
The serpentine bridge literally connects the clinical sciences
building (Paymaster Shodhika, on the right, where the Epidemiology/ Clinical Sciences Unit and I sit) and the basic laboratory sciences building (Khanolkar Shodhika, which is on the left and shown below). It also represents the metaphor of connecting disciplines that in many places are kept separate, for ostensibly “good” reasons.
Dr. Sarin and, from what I can tell, most of the other people I've
met here, are pretty strongly committed to connecting things that are often separated other places. Besides this kind of academic connection, I find it pretty cool that the patients and their families (who always accompany patients when they come for long-term stays; in the bone marrow transplant unit in Jussawalla Shodhika, for example) roam very freely around the campus, often sitting in the garden right by our building. On the walks I greet the patients 
and their families and try out my Hindi, which is somewhat effective but almost always very amusing. We also ride the shuttle bus together. What fun. Life here is very integrative of things that we often separate in the West. It is very humane and extremely efficient (more on that later)
There is much talk in the United States these days about translational research. T
hough some of this talk is sincere, as with most things in life, when all is said and done, more has been said than done. This is not to say that the game is over. Hopefully, that will be far from the case – especially with a large boost in NIH funding in the offing. We must assure that it is used wisely to improve people’s lives (not just our own!).
I've watched and listened pretty carefully to what the National Institutes of Health (NIH) says in its Roadmap and what has come out of the National Cancer Institute's Translational Research Working Group. The latter, especially, seems to embody what the Cancer Prevention and Control Program is all about. I don't think that we can ever make serious progress in the “War Against Cancer” without addressing prevention and control in the community. Just look at the major drivers of our recent reductions in cancer mortality to see what I mean: 1) tobacco cessation; 2) reduction in the use of hormone replacement therapy; and 3) colonoscopy screening.
If we are to take all the resources that have been invested in cancer research and make it work for the people who have given it to us, there will need to be lots of feedback between the basic sciences (including epidemiology and other things represented in the CPCP), clinical sciences (which, even in a tertiary care facility like ACTREC, should be a part of the community), and the larger populations and communities in which people live and, unfortunately, get cancer. By making these connections we will be much better placed to both prevent and treat cancer.
this bridge. I also walk across it. From along the bridge, there are some nice views of the campus and the hills beyond. I've spoken with Dr. Rajiv Sarin about the reality and the metaphor of this bridge. I have asked him to talk more about this later. I hope that he agrees to do this.The serpentine bridge literally connects the clinical sciences
building (Paymaster Shodhika, on the right, where the Epidemiology/ Clinical Sciences Unit and I sit) and the basic laboratory sciences building (Khanolkar Shodhika, which is on the left and shown below). It also represents the metaphor of connecting disciplines that in many places are kept separate, for ostensibly “good” reasons.Dr. Sarin and, from what I can tell, most of the other people I've
met here, are pretty strongly committed to connecting things that are often separated other places. Besides this kind of academic connection, I find it pretty cool that the patients and their families (who always accompany patients when they come for long-term stays; in the bone marrow transplant unit in Jussawalla Shodhika, for example) roam very freely around the campus, often sitting in the garden right by our building. On the walks I greet the patients 
and their families and try out my Hindi, which is somewhat effective but almost always very amusing. We also ride the shuttle bus together. What fun. Life here is very integrative of things that we often separate in the West. It is very humane and extremely efficient (more on that later)There is much talk in the United States these days about translational research. T
hough some of this talk is sincere, as with most things in life, when all is said and done, more has been said than done. This is not to say that the game is over. Hopefully, that will be far from the case – especially with a large boost in NIH funding in the offing. We must assure that it is used wisely to improve people’s lives (not just our own!).I've watched and listened pretty carefully to what the National Institutes of Health (NIH) says in its Roadmap and what has come out of the National Cancer Institute's Translational Research Working Group. The latter, especially, seems to embody what the Cancer Prevention and Control Program is all about. I don't think that we can ever make serious progress in the “War Against Cancer” without addressing prevention and control in the community. Just look at the major drivers of our recent reductions in cancer mortality to see what I mean: 1) tobacco cessation; 2) reduction in the use of hormone replacement therapy; and 3) colonoscopy screening.
If we are to take all the resources that have been invested in cancer research and make it work for the people who have given it to us, there will need to be lots of feedback between the basic sciences (including epidemiology and other things represented in the CPCP), clinical sciences (which, even in a tertiary care facility like ACTREC, should be a part of the community), and the larger populations and communities in which people live and, unfortunately, get cancer. By making these connections we will be much better placed to both prevent and treat cancer.
No comments:
Post a Comment