The U.S. has earned a health and medical research reputation that is - or once was - the envy of the world. We built this powerhouse capability through far-sighted strategic investment over many years and the disciplined service of countless professionals in government, universities, medical centers, and businesses.
That work has saved and improved millions of lives here and around the world as it has spawned billions in economic development. Any fool can see that the Return on Investment is incalculably enormous. All of it is at grave risk right now.
It's time in this tragic context to celebrate current and past cancer researchers such as Dr. Jewel Plummer Cobb. If you or anyone you know has survived skin cancer, you can thank Dr. Cobb and a U.S. government that wisely invested in her work. She diligently applied federal funding from the National Cancer Institute, National Science Foundation, Public Health Service, and other government entities for much of the second half of the 20th Century to achieve breakthroughs in research on treatments and cures for melanoma.
Jewel Cobb held a Ph.D. from New York University with a focus on cell physiology. As a Black woman, she encouraged countless women and people of color to pursue careers in medical research. Of course, she did so when folks’ race and gender were used against them by proponents of ignorance and hatred, which outrageously continues today. Her belief in science was equal to her commitment to equity.
Those of us familiar with Woods Hole, MA, might have walked or driven down Jewel Cobb Road. Dr Cobb worked as an independent investigator at the Marine Biological Laboratory there in 1949.
Image courtesy of YouTube.