Proud Blue Hen!

University of Delaware Alumni Wall of Fame

On June 6th, I had the tremendous honor of being inducted into the University of Delaware Alumni Wall of Fame! I am so humbled and appreciative of this recognition. Thank you University of Delaware and UD Alumni Association.

It is bittersweet, though, as it recognizes my life post-2007 when Andrew got sick. I would give every award, honor, and opportunity back in a second if I could have Andrew here with me in person.

What makes this recognition even more special is that I was nominated by my daughter, Ali. Thank you so much sweetheart! I live to make you, your Mom, and Andrew proud. Special thanks also go out to my three friends who wrote letters of support on my behalf - B+ Executive Director Carly Bergstein, US Sen. Chris Coons, and Ambassador Jack Markell.

Finally, fun fact. Delaware is a very old school (1743) and two of my fellow Wall of Fame Inductees (George Read & Thomas McKean) were signers of the Declaration of Independence! :)

ACCELERATE

Last week, I attended our ACCELERATE conference in Denver. We had approximately 200 people from all over the world. The topic of this Pediatric Strategy Forum was Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADC). In simple terms, a monoclonal antibody is a lab-produced protein that binds to a specific target to stimulate an immune response. You may be familiar with Herceptin in breast cancer treatment. That is a monoclonal antibody. But, in an ADC, you take a monoclonal antibody and add a linker to a payload. The payload would be any of a variety of cytotoxic drugs (I.e. chemotherapy). ADCs have become a very innovative approach to treating adult cancers and we met to discuss how to leverage this new tool for the treatment of children with cancer. It’s a VERY exciting time of discovery.

CAC2

Following ACCELERATE, I headed to Washington, DC for the annual Coalition Against Childhood Cancer (CAC2) Summit. CAC2 is a collaborative body that I had the honor of co-founding about 15 years ago. CAC2 consists of approximately 150 childhood cancer charities, a few dozen individual members, and some pharma companies. We’re trying to work smarter, rather than harder, and with one voice.

19th Annual B+ 5k

The day after returning from CAC2, we hosted our 19th Annual B+ 5k Run/Walk last night at Andrew’s alma mater, Salesianum School. While we had a few rain drops while setting up, the weather cleared and it was a great night for about a thousand people.

Make it a great weekend.

B+

Ali & Andrew’s Dad