TED'S TAKE: SETTING UP THE WIN (Spoiler: Invest Early)

Team TGM pairs our drivers. For the #64 car, Hugh  and I are a team, and we live and die by our combined performance and results. Hugh is faster than me, and his race is against other closing drivers. My race in against the other starting drivers. When I drive  well and hand the car over to Hugh in a good position, it makes it easier for him to make gains; we do better.

 Hugh consistently does a great job. And when I hold my own or drive a great stint against the other starting drivers, then Hugh starts from better position and it’s easier for our team to excel. The same effect can happen in  cancer research.

Unfortunately, in the US, we tend to focus tons of effort  closing but very little effort on starting. If we focused more attention on the basics, discovering how things work, how cells and cell types talk to one another, what they say and how they interact with the immune system and microenvironment, then we might be able to understand more earlier. In so doing, we would be in a much better and more informed position for the research race and ultimately arrive at answers more quickly. 

At JKTG Foundation, this defines our approach. We focus on early research – both the process and also at the basic science level. Not much is invested in these early fundamentals.. Perhaps others feel there’s no money to be made. But if we invest early, we will be in a better place much faster and progress from a more informed early position. This is the key.

Just like racing, in my cancer world, I need to get the research car in the best position possible before I turn it over to the closing driver – maybe that’s NIH, a drug company, or someone else. But we have to build momentum if we want a chance to win. That’s why I’m working and investing in the early stages  of the research race. If we evolve treatments and strategies for patients from a better understanding of the “why,” we will be much more effective in treating patients and that’s why we’re in the race at all.