TrailblAZers in Oncology:
Risk and Hope — Driving Improvements in Cancer Care

My kids are very into basketball much like I was at their age. And in basketball, the most successful players are never afraid to take the shot that may win them the game. If they miss, they don't dwell on it. They work harder to make the next one. I see parallels to our work in oncology research, science and innovation as we strive to eliminate cancer as a cause of death. We cannot let one miss hold us down, and when we have a win, we do not rest on our laurels. We keep striving for the next target.

Branching out

My path started, like many scientists, on an academic track. I was motivated early on to pursue scientific inquiry for the purpose of improving other people’s lives; graduate school and my postdoctoral fellowship gave me the opportunity to explore my options. I found a niche for my curiosity in oncology.

Once it was time to transition to the professional world, I took a step back to evaluate what mattered to me most. With some introspection and helpful advice from my wife, I realized that while basic research is invaluable to the process of discovering new treatments, it is still several steps removed from bringing treatments directly to patients.

I decided to move away from academia and accepted a role in drug development which opened my eyes to a different side of medicine. I was exposed to clinical, but also regulatory and medical affairs teams, which gave me insight into how developing new medicines works. I was inspired by the way translational medicine bridges the gap from early research and development to late-stage clinical development. This eventually led me to my current role where I get to help shape our strategy for developing certain oncology medicines, and ultimately, to help bring them to patients.  

Challenges in transformation

Initially, leaving translational medicine and focusing more on development strategy pushed me outside of my comfort zone. But it presented such a unique opportunity to be part of bringing new discoveries from the lab to the bedside — to join a team that’s not afraid to take that winning shot in oncology.

In hindsight, my day-to-day is not so different than it would have been on the academic track. I get to work closely with a group of like-minded individuals driven toward the same goal of someday curing cancer. Along the way, I get to challenge others to dig into the data to help inform our next Phase III trials. These conversations can provoke new ideas and research that drives cancer treatment forward.

Something I find amazing is that this role allows me to do what I had always wanted: bring projects to fruition that can transform the oncology treatment landscape. Some of my early research involved biomarker discovery, and it has been such a privilege to see that work evolve into immunotherapies that can change the lives of people with many different types of cancer today.

Immunotherapy has transformed the field of oncology by harnessing the natural power of the immune system to help eliminate cancer cells from the body. AstraZeneca is among the top leaders in immuno-oncology, particularly in my specialty of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. Unfortunately, GI cancer remains an area with high unmet needs, and we are working tirelessly to deliver safe, effective and novel combination therapies to increase survival and quality of life for people with these diseases.

I am so excited to be working at AstraZeneca, where our rich pipeline has the potential to propel the cancer field forward.  

Risk and hope in oncology research

My personal experience has taught me that the greatest growth and discovery comes from embracing discomfort and accepting uncertainty. This is true of research and drug discovery as well. Every day that our team spends pushing the boundaries of science and challenging our understanding of cancer pathology, we are pioneering the new innovations that could bring the next generation of treatments.

Oncology research involves significant risk and requires an appreciation for the fact that progress is not always a straight line. Just like in basketball where you can’t let one missed shot affect whether you take the next one — that might win you the game; in clinical trials, where there are setbacks almost as much as there are successes, the key to progress is resilience — and hope. If you are willing to take a risk, you can climb the mountain, you can move forward, you can bring new medicines and you can maybe succeed in a setting where someone else was too afraid to fail.

As scientists, we learn early on that when an experiment does not deliver the results we were expecting, this should not discourage us — it should motivate us to learn. We can choose to be disappointed, or we can choose to be inspired, because every unexpected result has the potential to give us more insight into the problem and lead to an answer. That resilience and hope that drives researchers in oncology is like the hope that sustains patients with cancer, and that is something I take to heart every day.

Gastrointestinal malignancies are among the most difficult cancers to treat, so every step toward more effective treatments that increase quality of life or survival is a meaningful one that brings hope to this community. As we continue to investigate the safety and efficacy of our novel therapies, we remind ourselves that every experiment, every shot we take and every outcome — even if it is not the outcome we were expecting — brings us new insight, and therefore brings us closer to improving the lives of patients.

John’s story is part of our ongoing series: TrailblAZers in Oncology, which spotlights colleagues on the AstraZeneca Oncology team who are making an impact, both personally and professionally.

Veeva ID: Z4-68066
Date of preparation: September 2024