Science needs inquisitive, diverse thinkers to drive breakthroughs.
我是那种总是问“为什么”的孩子?和“如果……怎么办??“我想知道为什么事情是这样的. In my mind, that made science the most obvious and natural place for me to be. I had fantastic science teachers at school; Friday afternoons were A-level chemistry and they made it great fun and fed my enthusiasm to explore.
As a young female from a family who had never been to university, a degree and PhD in chemistry was a long way from anything I had imagined as a child, 但我只是跟着我喜欢的走. I was lucky to have a supportive supervisor who encouraged me to follow my thinking. Just before I left for further study with my post-doctoral degree in the US, 他带我出去吃午饭,然后告诉我, “You're amazing to have in the group but I could only ever have one of you.” I’m not sure what he meant by it, but I decided to take it as a compliment. And that’s the thing about science – great science demands unique and diverse perspectives and people who can’t help but venture “outside the box.”
我很荣幸能加入澳门在线赌城娱乐, surrounded by smart people to learn from and embark on a career of learning how to get the body to course correct. This is a multifactorial problem requiring a strong team of experts. I often think of the work we do at 澳门在线赌城娱乐 as one big puzzle. Each piece that makes up that puzzle has its own distinctive shape. 像个谜一样, each one of us at 澳门在线赌城娱乐 has a place where our talents and perspectives fit in and, 没有它, 会有一个大洞.
Working in oncology drug development is like putting together a puzzle – the pieces are all a little different and have a specific way of fitting with one another because it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach.
未来是个性化的
When I initially joined the 肿瘤事业部 from the Research and Development side of the business, 很多人问我为什么做出这样的改变, and my answer was simple: “I’ve done extensive work in the early development of drugs, but I’ve never worked on a medicine available to patients.”
To me, a medicine is something that transforms outcomes for patients across the world. 我现在的职位是全球产品主管, I get to focus on ensuring drugs turn into medicines and significantly improve patient outcomes globally. A key area as we move forward in our fight against cancer will be identifying the patients that truly benefit; each patient is unique, 所以澳门第一赌城在线娱乐需要开发个体化药物.
在澳门在线赌城娱乐, we are constantly learning more about the heterogeneity of cancer and discovering ways to target cancer from multiple angles. We’re examining targeting cancer vulnerabilities in the DNA damage response and targeting epigenetic changes and activating the body’s immune system to overcome immune suppression, activating existing T-cells and replacing the immune system.
Our aim is to transform cancer from an acute disease to a chronic disease on the journey to ultimately cure cancer. 虽然澳门第一赌城在线娱乐在某些亚型上取得了进展, 还有很多其他的, 但澳门第一赌城在线娱乐希望澳门第一赌城在线娱乐能产生更广泛的影响. Cancer is a highly individualised disease and each patient's experience with cancer is unique, 受他们个性的影响, circumstances and the specific characteristics of their disease. It's therefore important we put patients at the heart of what we do and tailor treatments accordingly in order to provide the best possible care.
One approach that will be critical to drive better outcomes will be to understand how we combine drugs to optimally address the heterogeneity of cancer. We are continually exploring how best to combine our medicines that cover a wide range of mode of actions to maximise the benefit they can bring to patients.
Every person with cancer should have the chance to benefit from novel therapies and the latest scientific innovations. 为了做到这一点, we need to continue to drive the understanding of cancer to enable us to outsmart it. That way we can work out how to beat each person's specific cancer type. 仅仅生存是不够的. 人们不只是想要生存,他们想要茁壮成长.
利兹的故事是澳门第一赌城在线娱乐正在进行的系列节目的一部分: 肿瘤学的开拓者, which spotlights colleagues on the 澳门在线赌城娱乐 肿瘤学 team who are making an impact, 无论是个人还是职业.