Super excited to have an official reschedule date for Fred Hutch’s Climb to Fight Cancer - post-pandemic EBC edition!

Since the 1960s, more than a million lives have been touched by Fred Hutch’s pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation. Since that time, scientists have refined the procedure, making it safer and more widely available for leukemia patients. And, now, dozens of other diseases are treated with bone marrow transplantation.

My colleagues at Fred Hutch come to work each day with the same aim as our predecessors. We want to find new cures. We want to find more effective treatment. We want every patient across the globe to benefit from discovery.

My lab aims to more effectively treat and improve the lives of people with cancer, HIV, and other diseases through the next generation of transplantation and cellular therapy: gene therapy.

Gene therapy has proved to be an effective treatment for cancers such as glioblastoma, a deadly brain cancer, but it is complex, expensive, and not widely available. It requires weeks of treatment and months of in-person follow up. Gene therapy has also transformed the way we could treat HIV. The majority of the 36 million people living with HIV reside in sub-Saharan Africa, on a continent without the infrastructure to provide gene therapy. This year, 200,000 people will be diagnosed with a glioblastoma, 1.7 million people will contract HIV, and millions more will receive other diagnoses that could benefit from gene therapy. Right now, there are more than 60 million people on the planet diagnosed with a disease for which gene therapy could make a difference. 

What if we could simplify treatment and bring it to our patients?

My ultimate goal is to develop gene therapy as a safe, cost-effective treatment that can reach and treat patients worldwide. All of us at Fred Hutch are determined to fight cancer and find cures. I’m climbing Everest Base Camp in March 2020 to raise vital funds and propel cures, and I’m thrilled to partner with other biotech leaders who believe in our work. Please click the “Donate” button and give to the Climb to Fight Cancer. Any amount you can give makes a difference to people and families facing deadly diseases. Your gift is 100 percent tax deductible and will fund extraordinary research, lifesaving discoveries, and cures. Thank you for your support.