As winner of the Student of the Year Competition for the entire Los Angeles region (a philanthropic leadership development program for select exemplary high school students), and for finishing 8th nationally with over 600 candidates participating nationwide, I was invited to join in Philadelphia a select group of scientists funded by the LLS at a panel discussion entitled: Accelerating to Cures: Prevention, Precision Medicine, Immunotherapy. The panel was facilitated by the Chief Scientific Officer at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Lee Greenberger, Ph.D. Afterwards, I met with LLS funded researchers and other top fundraisers and LLS supporters from across the country.
Being invited to this intimate gathering was an honor, and it was my privilege to attend. I met Drs. Lee Greenberger (Chief Scientific Officer LLS), Yong-Mi Kim (Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Pathology at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles), Ronald Levy (Director of the Lymphoma Program at Stanford University School of Medicine), Noopur Raje (Professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Multiple Myeloma at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center), and Anas Younes (Chief of lymphoma Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute).
The cause of most cases of Leukemia is not known. High doses of radiation and certain cancer therapies are possible causes. Exposure to benzene may be a cause. Auto exhaust and industrial emissions account for about 20 percent of the total national benzene exposure (LLS Data). About half of US benzene exposure results from tobacco smoking or exposure to tobacco smoke. Research is also focusing on identifying genes that might predict Leukemia, thus resulting in strategies to prevent it in the future. Environmental impacts, therefore, cannot be ignored and must be considered when discussing prevention, treatments, and cures.
Environmental Science and Its Application to Health 