Samra Turajlić, Director at CRUK Manchester Institute, shared on LinkedIn:
“Science changes conversations.
Early in my career, treating people with advanced melanoma, I sometimes met a patient for the first time knowing there was almost nothing meaningful I could offer them. It felt as though in that first conversation I was already saying goodbye. It was heartbreaking.
Today, thanks to discoveries made in laboratories and translated into new treatments, that conversation can be profoundly different.
That was the thought I shared at Business Beats Cancer Manchester on Friday. Because somewhere in a laboratory today, a scientist may be asking a question that will change a conversation with a patient five, ten or twenty years from now. From ‘I’m sorry, there’s nothing more we can do’ to: ‘We have something new for you.’
Almost exactly a year since arriving here, I’m increasingly convinced Manchester is an extraordinary place to make those discoveries. At the heart of that is the co-location of Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute with The Christie NHS Foundation Trust – bringing discovery science and clinical care together, and creating the opportunity for questions from our patients to travel into the lab, and discoveries from the lab to travel back towards patients.
Add to that Manchester’s openness, kindness and genuine instinct to collaborate, and we have something very special!
Our ambition should be unapologetic: to make Manchester one of the best places in the world to do cancer research, while preserving what makes Manchester distinctly Manchester. Friday evening captured that spirit beautifully!
Thank you to the amazing Lisa Morton, of We Built This City fame; Nina Morton for the beautiful music; Matt White for his wit and warmth; and to the fabulous fundraising team Aaron Webster, Rachel Speight – McGregor.
Huge thanks to the Business Beats Cancer Manchester Board, including Jon Butler, Cameron Roberts, Andrew Charnley, Stephen Henry, Theresa Baker and Kathryn Creswell and the many others who were so generous and kind to us throughout the evening.
Most of all, thank you to everyone who turned up, took an interest, asked questions, donated and fundraised. So many people told us how important our work is. That is a sentiment I want every person working at Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute to remember, whatever their contribution. What you do matters.
Because ultimately, all of it is about changing conversations.”
Other articles featuring Samra Turajlić on OncoDaily.
