• Question: What made you want to resaerch cancers and cures?

    Asked by kirstencymi to Marianne on 17 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by abbigaailstuaart, shona, lollypop, lauraa3, u26durberk, aimeesmith.
    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      I guess I’ll answer the cure part of this question. I’m a medical doctor as well as a scientist and curing is one part of what we like to do. It may surprise you that an awful lot of the disease we see we can’t cure. We can treat it, so that the person feels better for a while but it comes back at some point. This is extremely frustrating as a doctor (it’s great if you own a pharmaceutical company because you’ll always have someone to sell your dugs too!). I’m not saying we spend our time weeping in the corridors of the hospital or railing against god and society like in a TV program but when we’re at our best we empathise with our patients and even when we’re at our lowest ebb we usually want what’s best for them. What’s best for them has to be what lets them get back on with their life, enjoying family and friends.

      Researching potentially curative drugs as a scientist is a practical way of helping patients.

    • Photo: Marianne Baker

      Marianne Baker answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      As I’ve said elsewhere, My interest in biology and chemistry led to me wanting to work on human disease. Combined with a lifelong interest in genetics and evolution, cancer made the most sense. It’s based on problems with DNA, sometimes inherited genes; evolution of cell populations inside the body.

      It just made sense and most people know or knew someone with cancer; it’s still a big problem.

Comments