Western North Carolina Brain Tumor Support
is proud to present:

Dr. Michael Robbins
Professor and Section Head of Radiation Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology
Wake Forest University Comprehensive Cancer Center

“Experimental Aspects Into Radiation-Induced Brain Injury”

"Radiation is an effective treatment, but 20 to 40 percent of patients who get whole-brain radiation develop cognitive impairment within a year"

Dr. Robbins has helped build at Wake Forest University Comprehensive Cancer Center the largest group of researchers in the US studying how radiation damages the normal brain and developing interventional approaches that will prevent normal tissue injury without protecting the tumor. He has worked for more than 25 years on the effects of radiation in normal tissue.

“Living with someone with cancer also gave me an appreciation of the strength that cancer patients possess, and how we need to live each day to the full.”

We welcome you to attend this great opportunity to hear from Dr. Robbins!

Date: April 17, 2008

Where: Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC)
Room #5 501 Biltmore Ave Asheville, North Carolina Time: 6:30 - 8:00 PM

Sponsored by: Western North Carolina Brain Tumor Support

***No Charge- Donations will be accepted ***
Contact: 828-691-2559

An interview with Dr. Michael Robbins from a Wake Forest University Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Robbins

Dr. Robbins, thank you so much for giving us your time to speak to our group. How did you get started in cancer research?

First of all, I my am very excited at being able to meet and speak with you and your group. It is very important for me to meet cancer survivors such as yourselves to help to drive me to pursue my research interests. I have always wanted to pursue research, but it had to be research that offered some promise of helping patients, I am not one who can research a particular protein in isolation. I originally was trained as a renal physiologist, and got into cancer research when I joined the Cancer Research Campaign Normal Tissue Radiobiology research group, as they were looking for someone to drive their research into radiation-induced kidney injury and its treatment.

On moving to the US in 93, I wanted to expand my research directions, and chose to work on brain tumors, as the outcome for patients with the most aggressive form is so dismal. Brain tumor research is an exciting opportunity to do something that will directly help thousands of individuals. On moving to Wake Forest, I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Ed Shaw to help build what is now the largest group of researchers studying how radiation damages the normal brain, and developing interventional approaches that will prevent normal tissue injury without protecting the tumor.

Do you think that we will see a cure our our lifetime?

You ask great questions. I am not sure that we will cure brain tumors, or indeed any cancers. However, we are successfully turning a disease that used to always kill the individual into one that is more chronic in nature, enabling individuals to live with cancer for, in some tumors, many years. Brain tumors remain a highly aggressive group of tumors, but we are continually making progress here as well.

Do you work closely with other Comprehensive Cancer Centers so that the research is not replicated?

We continually strive to make sure that we are not re-inventing the wheel, and keep in close contact with other Centers working on brain tumors. However, a certain amount of replication is important to make sure that particular findings can be confirmed.

How has cancer touched you on a personal level?

Cancer has had a major impact in my life. I had 3 siblings, 2 elder sisters and a younger brother. The younger of the two sisters, Maryse, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1989 when only 37 years old. She had a bone marrow transplant from her sister and survived until May 2005, when she finally succumbed to the disease. Being involved in cancer research I was able to provide her and the family advice and explanations about the various treatments she underwent. My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1994 aged 73, and lived another 12 years until dying in his sleep in June 2006. The most intimate cancer victim was my wife, Lucy. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995 when we were at the University of Iowa. She had surgery and chemotherapy, and did great for 4 years until she recurred in 1999. Another bout of chemotherapy and radiotherapy left her controlled but only able to work partime. Within a month of us moving to Winston-Salem, Lucy was diagnosed with the first of several brain metastases. Over the course of the next 4 years she had 11 recurrences, involving the brain, lungs, skin, and finally her entire CNS. Seeing her deal every day with this situation, and also the wonderful care an love that we received from all the doctors, nurses, therapists at the Medical Center, was a humbling experience. Lucy was diagnosed with terminal cancer in December 2004 by Dr. Shaw. I will never be able to repay the kindness that he showed to both of us during the years he took care of Lucy. Lucy wanted to die at home, so we went back to England, where she died Jan 10th 2005.

Has that driven you to work even harder for a cure?

Seeing Lucy suffer the side effects of brain irradiation helped drive me in my research aimed at overcoming this very morbidity. Living with someone with cancer also gave me an appreciation of the strength that cancer patients possess, and how we need to live each day to the full.
I have been fortunate to find another wonderful woman to share my life with. I met Pam in July 2006, and we married May 5th 2007. Pam lost her husband to cancer as well, and we both give thanks for finding each other.

Again Dr. Robbins, thank you for your time and effort. We are really looking forward to meeting on April 17.