Research for life

Curiosity drives observation. Observation sparks ideas. Curiosity and observation set up the foundation for research. Research does not invent but rather discovers! Throughout history, this rule remained a constant. The major breakthroughs that ultimately embodied the medical practice to the fittest, started with scientists and their juvenile ideas which grew into mature research by funding. This is fueled with passion, knowledge, and discipline to make it a reality. Funding remains a crucial jigsaw piece to complete the big picture.  

Funding research and scientists is the paramount vein that shunts the blood back from the periphery (the scientific community) to the ever-beating heart of translational research.  

{mosads}This cycle in the public health body must continue for the survival of clinical practice and consequently the lives of millions. It is not strange when scientists say: “publish or perish.” A motto that could be so literal! This reflects the imperative contribution of translational research to the dynamically evolving alphabets of the medical practice in the U.S. and the world.  

You, I and our families and friends will live longer, become disease free and suffer less. Funding is a spectrum of prosperous investments: either into research experiments and clinical trials, scientific minds, or awarding accomplished scientists with prizes to drive this wheel of rising innovation. The legacy is not only the trailblazing breakthroughs but also the upbringing of the next generations of brilliant scientists who are trained on the hands of elite to take the lead.  

Today, we suffer from evident exigency in funding. A crisis that must be addressed nationally by the scientific community and national leaders. We cannot allow the ship to sink, each must become captain!  

Being an MD is rooted in my curiosity for the human body and my desire to touch the lives of patients. Being a postdoctoral fellow originated from my passion for science and my belief of the dramatic impact of bridging the laboratory and the clinic. I remember vividly how I would skip days in my crowded schedule in medical school to travel and present my publications to the world, while my colleagues would be attending boring lectures. How I would spend holidays leading medical projects and constructing publications when my friends would be partying instead. Being an outlier and thriving for excellence got me into nation’s top hospital for cancer care, MD Anderson (MDA). My first publication was as a leading author in my third year of medical school which was accepted later for presentation in a major international conference in Rome. Back then I didn’t know anything about research, but the pursuit of knowledge and self-exploration lead me to a safe shore. Since then I could not stop falling in love with science and could not stop publishing!

“From Jordan to Jordan, from MD to MDA” sums up my journey. I came as an MD from the University of Jordanto work with V. Craig Jordan (The Father of Tamoxifen), one of the world’s preeminent scientists credited with saving a million woman’s lives diagnosed with breast cancer. From being accepted for training in breast medical oncology (BMO) to being employed as a postdoctoral fellow in BMO few months after. Professor Jordan’s global outreach, profound impact, mentorship for 2 generations while leading the “Tamoxifen Teams” throughout 40 years, his astonishing discoveries and saving a million woman’s lives would not have happened without funding! This is the “butterfly effect” of investing into the right brains.

I call on Congress to restore funding for the National Institutes of Health so that researchers like myself can observe and discover, and one day save the lives of millions of men and women across America.   

Abderrahman was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. She was educated at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Jordan (Amman) and graduated in 2015. Currently, she is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. This is the nation’s top-ranked Cancer Center.