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Dr. Evanthia Galanis sitting at a computer and smiling

Every day more than 1,600 Americans die from cancer. Most of them have cancer that can’t be cured with traditional methods — surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. The father of Evanthia Galanis, M.D., was one of them.

He died in the late 1990s from melanoma when his daughter was a junior faculty member at Mayo Clinic.

“My father would have better treatment options today,” says Dr. Galanis, chair of the Department of Molecular Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester and the Sandra J. Schulze Professor. “Research has led to the availability of very effective melanoma treatments, including immunotherapy. My father always encouraged me to be the best I could be. Every time I see a patient with cancer for whom we can’t offer good options, I think of him, and my commitment to decreasing the burden of cancer and eliminating it altogether is re-energized. I’m more determined to find answers as a result of that very difficult personal experience. I know my father’s legacy makes me a better oncologist and researcher.” Read the rest of the article on Advancing the Science.

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