Check out two recent articles from Science and the Los Angeles Times, featuring personal stories from MSK researchers.

In an essay in Science, MSK Resident Dr. Gohar Manzar describes how a PhD experiment ran perfectly—until it became clear it was too good to be true. When a grant review pointed to an overlooked flaw, Dr. Manzar had to start over:

Dr. Gohar Manzar. Photo by Ethan Kavet.

“At first, I lamented the loss of my tidy, compelling story, but I eventually realized that element of my grief was misplaced. As scientists, we seek to understand nature’s crooked truth. To simplify it—as tempting as that can be—is contrary to our quest to do meaningful science. It took me 6 months to recover and find closure by taking on a new project. My adviser supported my new direction, and eventually I graduated with my Ph.D.”

Dr. Fumiko Chino, who will join MSK this fall, wrote the text of a Los Angeles Times graphic op-ed illustrated by Dr. Nathan Gray of Duke University. In it, the author and illustrator express the difficulties Dr. Chino and her husband, Andrew Ladd, faced when her husband was diagnosed and treated for neuroendocrine cancer. The financial burden was immense, continuing even after his death in 2007 at age 28. Dr. Chino went to medical school, and now studies the financial toxicity that impacted her life so intensely.

A panel from the Los Angeles Times graphic Op-Ed. Text by Fumiko Chino, illustration by Nathan Gray.