Home: Fort Lauderdale, FL. Age: Mainly off-road miles. Birthplace: Perth, Australia. Profession: Oncology, cancer biology and biotechnology entrepreneurship. Organization: Pennsylvania Cancer and Regenerative Medicine Center. Title: President. Significant others: My remarkable wife, Anna, and three children.
Recent recognition: Elected to the National Academy of Europe and the National Academy of Hungary. Latest accomplishment: Coaching my five-year-old daughter in tennis. Latest contribution to others: Mentoring early-career cancer researchers and supporting global cancer programs. What’s been your big (or biggest) leap? Founding six biotechnology companies. Hobbies: Scuba diving, trekking and athletics. Recent travel or adventure: Climbed the Pitons with my wife and breathed the mist of Iguazú Falls at sunrise. Last book read: Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, by Pablo Neruda.
Personality profile: Listening, intuitive, hopeful. What one word would your closest friend use to describe you? Optimist. How do you define a perfect friendship? Time-tested comfortable shoes. How do you define an ideal business relationship? Ideologically aligned and building an annuity for humanity. What is your greatest joy? The universal deep-throated laugh of our children. What is your greatest fear? That the people will forget the poets and the poets the people. What natural talent have you neglected? Poetry. What occupation, other than your own, do you most admire? Teachers of Braille.
What was your first paying job? Gardening, watering and pet feeding at age 11. What was your favorite college course? Physics. What movie have you repeatedly watched? Love Actually. What’s prominently featured on your home or office wall? If— by Rudyard Kipling. Besides your parents, who has had the greatest influence on your life? My maternal grandfather, an entrepreneur and inventor of a tire-retreading process. What’s the best advice you received growing up? You know very little—find the answers. What’s the best advice you received in your career? Fail forward, often. What is your go-to source of creative inspiration? Silence.
What is your big idea?
Harnessing the body’s own immune response to fight cancer.
What change would you like to see in the world? More listening. What message do you want to send out into the world? Life is short and fragile—respect every second. What widely held belief do you reject? That people can’t change for the better.
What actor would you choose to play you in the movie about your life? Hugh Grant. As a kid, what did you first want to be when you grew up? A psychiatrist. After your loved ones, what object would you first save from your burning home? My computer. How would you choose to spend tomorrow, if you knew it was your last day on earth? With my family at the beach. What advice would you give your younger self? Nothing is certain—embrace it.
Personal mission: To reduce the impact of cancer on human lives. Personal motto: How you do one thing is how you do everything. Favorite quote: “Do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12). Desired epitaph: Called Back.
