Why Measure?
Christopher S. Hourigan, DM, DPhil, FRCP
Professor and Director
Cancer Research Center — D.C.
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute
Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture
Why Measure?
Date: Sept. 17, 2026
Time: 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. (Reception and hors d'oeuvres at 5 p.m.)
In-person: Room M203, 2 Riverside Circle, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Virtual: Join via Zoom
About this Seminar
Professor Hourigan trained first as a Ph.D. scientist and later became a practicing oncologist, and so knows from both sides how often findings from the research laboratory fail to reach patients with cancer ("bench-to-bedside"). His team works in the opposite direction, developing new tools to study when treatments work and when they do not, asking why the theory so often does not match the reality ("bedside-to-bench"). Their focus is acute myeloid leukemia, an aggressive blood cancer in which most adults enter remission and yet most still die of the disease. By building both ultrasensitive genomic tests and large nationwide collaborations, they have generated practice-changing evidence on what causes recurrence and death after apparently successful treatment - and how best to prevent it.
About Maury Strauss
Maury Strauss was a longtime community benefactor and businessman who supported biomedical research with the goal of energizing the local economy and improving quality of life in our neighborhoods and around the world. In order to ensure the continued success of Roanoke’s biomedical research enterprise, as well as the free public seminars, Mr. Strauss made a generous gift to the series. He passed away in June 2024 at age 99.
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