S02.04 Dr. Gazdar as a Mentor

Abstract

It was September in 1989 when I joined the NCI-Navy Medical Oncology Branch as a postdoctoral fellow. At that time, I was in my 10th year as a surgeon. The reason why I wanted to join the NCI-Navy was that I was greatly fascinated by the book entitled “The Biology of Lung Cancer” published by Marcel Dekker authored by many of the NCI-Navy MOB investigators. Especially, I was attracted by experimental works that used many lung cancer cell lines established by Adi’s group. When I first met Adi, my impression was that he was a calm and quiet person. My first project was to characterize peripheral airway cell phenotype in the adenocarcinoma cell lines by examining the expression of surfactant proteins as well as class II MHC. But I did not like this project and after 2 months or so, he agreed to change my theme to KRAS or TP53 mutations in lung cancer cell lines. He never pushed me to do or not to do something and never became emotional. I was deeply immersed in the research to look for the clinical and pathologic significance of those genetic abnormalities in lung cancer. This was what is called “translational research” today. I thought I could find what I should pursue throughout my life as a lung cancer doctor. It is obvious that without this experience and Adi, my life would have been so different. In addition, human network owing to Adi has been a precious treasure for me. One day in 1990, he gave me a paraffin block of bronchial biopsy sample and told me to search for TP53 mutation. It is currently a routine diagnostic workup to examine genetic alterations in the biopsy samples when you see lung cancer patients. It was as if he had known what would be the future diagnostic workup before 30 years. During this fruitful time of my life, I am so proud that I was able to co-authored 18 papers with Adi. After coming back to Japan, I saw Adi occasionally but periodically at various meetings such as the AACR, ASCO, ELCC and especially WCLC. Every time, he encouraged me to pursue my goal and gave some suggestions on my experiments. When Adi was to edit a special issue on Lung Cancer in Never Smokers in Translational Lung Cancer Research in 2018, he invited me to write about GGO lesions in never smokers. It was the last homework that he assigned to me. I am going to organize the Annual meeting of the Japanese Lung Cancer Society in December 2019. When I talked to him and his wife Celia at the Toronto WCLC meeting in 2018, Adi promised me to come to Japan to give a lecture. That was our last conversation. The promise has been broken and I really miss him. Adi. Please rest in peace. There are many of your children all over the world who have inherited your spirit as a lung cancer researcher. Translational research, mentor