It’s been a big week for Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Their athletic department and their Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center received lots of positive media coverage this week. The basketball team had a big win over Gonzaga in the NCAA basketball tournament which put them into the Final Four with a chance to make it into the national championship game. Then 60 Minutes broadcasted a report which talked about the success researchers at Duke have had in their fight to conquer cancer. It was the kind of week filled with good news that any university would love to have.
It started on Sunday afternoon when the Duke basketball team, the southern region’s No. 1 seed faced off against No. 2 seed Gonzaga in an Elite Eight battle for the NCAA’s South Regional championship. The winner would go into the national semi-final game. Duke, led by freshman sensation Jahil Okafor, faced their toughest test so far in the 2015 NCAA basketball tournament. They would have to defeat a battle-tested Gonzaga team, led by seniors Gary Bell Jr. and Kevin Pangos, if they were to stay alive in the tournament. Duke had last made it to the Final Four during their 2010 championship season.
It was a tough back and forth game that tested the mettle of both Duke (33-4) and Gonzaga (35-3). About 4 minutes into the second half, Gonzaga held a 38-34 lead. It was Duke’s largest deficit in this year’s tournament. Just when it looked like the Blue Devils might be in trouble, a trio of Duke freshmen, Justise Winslow, Matt Jones, and Tyus Jones, stepped up and made some huge shots. After Gonzaga senior Byron Wesley picked up a loose ball, made a layup and foul shot and put Gonzaga up by 4 with 16:20 left in the game, Duke scored 9 straight points to snatch the lead. They never trailed again.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called the win magical. On a day when their star big man, Okafor, only managed to score 9 points, the other three freshmen combined for 47 points to give Duke the victory. Now Duke is headed for their 16th Final Four appearance, the 12th under Coach K. It was the kind of game that required the Blue Devils to show the kind of grit and determination for which Coach Krzyzewski’s Duke teams have become known if they were to continue their magical run. When the final horn sounded, Duke had escaped with an incredibly exciting 66-52 win.
A few hours after the Duke basketball team’s thrilling win, 60 Minutes aired a piece on the groundbreaking work being done at the Duke University Cancer Center. The story focused on the success researchers at the cancer center have had using genetically modified polio virus to treat cancerous brain tumors. It was a remarkable story because there have been few successful cancer treatments developed in recent times. It is a report that gives hope to many patients for whom a cancer diagnosis almost always ends in excruciating pain and premature death.
The technique being used at Duke’s Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center involves injecting the polio virus directly into the brain of patients suffering with a very common and deadly form of brain cancer known as Glioblastoma. Duke associate professor in molecular genetics and microbiology, associate professor of surgery, and associate professor of medicine, Dr. Matthias Gromeier has been working on the innovative use of the polo virus to cure cancer for 25 years. He explained that the modified polio virus activates the body’s immune system causing it to attack the cancerous tumor.
The extended televised report prompted an inundation of emails and calls from people battling cancer who wanted to know if they could become involved in the clinical trials going on at Duke. For many of them this experimental treatment in which the polo virus attaches itself to the cancerous cells and leads to their death gives them a real chance to be victorious against the devastating disease that has them in near-constant pain and threatens to end their lives. The story hints at a rare opportunity for cancer sufferers to envision a time when they might be cancer free.
For Duke, having the success in athletics and medicine broadcast to a national audience in such close proximity to each other shows what a unique university it is. One where students can participate and have victories in two vastly different arenas. It increases the value and allure of a Duke education and undoubtedly will draw more talented and dedicated students and professors to the campus. The kind of exposure for all the right reasons Duke received that Sunday in March will go a long way towards bolstering its reputation as one of the finest universities in the world.
