Friday, January 29, 2016

Jamie Reno's Historic China Lymphoma Project in San Diego Is About To Take Flight Globally

Lymphoma expert Dr. Jonathan Schatz (left), myself, and cancer researcher Dr. Zhizhong Li

It was just a little dream I had, but now it's finally coming true. Our historic China Lymphoma Project's first annual Global Conference, which took place five years ago at the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine in La Jolla, Calif., was the hopeful beginning. 

It was a lively, informative and inspirational event whose overriding theme was the burgeoning friendship between the people of the world's two most powerful countries, and what this compassion can foster, specifically in the sciences.

There were not many folks really thought we could pull this off. 

But I never listen to the doubters. 

As we in the United States looked for ways to address the cancer crisis in China, where I have many friends and colleagues and where more than 7,500 people die of the disease each day, the consensus among many who attended the conference said that our China Lymphoma Project was positive thing but that it wasn't gong to ave any lives. 

But that is about to be disproven. Lymphoma, the type of cancer I've been fighting and writing about for 25 years, is already the fifth most common cancer in the US. And it is one of several types of cancer that is alarmingly on the rise in China, especially in urban areas where there are hazardous levels of pollution. 

Five years ago, unlike lung cancer and some other cancers, lymphoma remained a great mystery to many people in China -- despite the fact that it was becoming much more common.

That has changed, as I predicted it would. China is now enjoying an enormous biotech boom, especially with regard to blood cancers. I also predicted this five years ago. 
The government in China, too, is making a concerted effort to address the problem by, among other things, "declaring war" on air and water pollution. 
 
There are a number of biotech companies in China that are now researching and marketing new lymphoma treatments, and the greatest thing about this biotech boom in China is that it has generated several new partnerships between China and US biotech companies. 

This remains a great and mostly untold story. The US and China are working together in many instances. And this can be nothing but good for the entire planet. 

I am spearheading a lot of this with our China Lymphoma Project. 

We are working with such prestigious young biopharmaceutical companies in China as BeiGene, JW Therapeutics, InnoCare Pharma, and AntiCancer Bioscience.

Each of these companies has a game-changing lymphoma treatment approved for use and/or in clinical trials. 

And each of these companies has a presence in both China and the United States. And that is the key point. 

The conference I held five years ago powerfully represented our project's mission, which is to bring our countries together under the banner of science.

To utilize the latest communication technologies (ebooks, social media, smartphone apps) to provide much-needed information and hope, as well as comfort and compassion, to China's lymphoma cancer sufferers and their families and increase good will between our two great countries. 

When I started this, many people in China who received a lymphoma diagnosis just went home and gave up. The awareness of this type of cancer was just not widespread. 

With access to new information about treatments and stories of Chinese people as well as others around the world who have been treated and are now doing fine, that has all changed. 

An Impressive Global Gathering in La Jolla

Dr. Jonathan Schatz (pictured at top), a globally respected lymphoma physician and researcher from Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami, pledged his and the hospital's support for the project, talked at our first conference about the need for more international cooperation between physicians, and suggested the project should pursue more epidemiological studies on lymphoma in China.

We are now almost ready to publish our exclusive new e-book for China's lymphoma patients that profiles survivor stories, including famous China lymphoma survivors such as Kai-Fu Lee, the hugely popular micro-blogger and creator of Google China, as well as just regular folks (men, women and children) throughout China.

This ebook will of course be FREE to China's lymphoma patients, and will be available in both Simplified Chinese and English. We are very close to the finish line of this historic endeavor. 

China Lymphoma Project Reaches Tipping Point

Our project is now resonating with an increasingly broad audience worldwide. As I told the gathering in my conference introduction, the biotech and cancer hospital communities in both China and the US are now eager to join us.Because everybody wins. 

The booming San Diego tech community is coming to us, as are a variety of healthcare companies. So is the environmental community. And pretty much any company doing business in China and anyone who cares about China's people and about goodwill between the two most powerful countries in the world. 

We're now proudly connected with several cancer hospitals in China, and that number keeps growing. We have positive and substantive relationships with several American universities, biotech leaders from China and the US, including Professor Lilly Cheng at San Diego State University, my alma mater.

Dr. Cheng, who is one of our project's Chief Ambassadors, gave a stirring speech at our initial conference in which she called on people to act now, not later, and support our project so we can help China's cancer patients and make a real difference. 

Dr. Cheng has already made several trips to China on our behalf to meet with cancer hospital executives and more. And it helped us. We are now well known to many in China, and I am personally proud of that. 

Support From Chinese Government Officials

Hua Liu, Consul of Science & Technology, Photos by Caitlin Prenga
There were also three representatives at our conference from the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles, including our distinguished opening speaker Hua Liu (left), who at the time was Consul in Science and Technology. Members of the Consulate General's office warmly pledged their support. We look forward to working closely with them.

Other speakers at the conference included Dr. Huan-You Wang, a highly respected pathologist and lymphoma diagnostic expert at UCSD Moores Cancer Center, my personal cancer hospital. 

Dr. Wang, who is from China, stressed the need for all cancer patients to get the correct diagnosis, and noted that while there are many brilliant doctors and scientists in China, diagnosing cancer in China still has a long way to go. 

Typically, he said five years ago, pathologists in China are not specialists, they cover all diagnoses, not specific types of cancer. This, too, is thankfully changing as more hospitals learn about lymphoma and have access to new treatments and clinical trials. 

Dr. Catriona Jamieson, the well-known physician and expert in lymphoma and other blood cancers and Director of Stem Cell Research at the UCSD Moores Cancer Center, spoke brilliantly yet conversationally at our initial launch five years ago about the groundbreaking efforts at Moores to identify new ways to treat cancer, including lymphoma. 

She also explained a few of the encouragingly growing number of partnerships between cancer scientists in China and the US. This has increased many-fold since her speech, as she predicted it would.

Conference co-host Amanda Caniglia, myself, and Col. Deanna Won
Colonel Deanna Won (far right), is pictured here with yours truly and conference co-host Amanda Caniglia, owner and manager of the vaunted Bella Vista Caffe, where we held our event five years ago. 

Won, the retired Air Force veteran, stage IV cancer survivor, China expert, and integrative and holistic health coach, shared with the rapt crowd her experience with stage IV cancer. 

She was just days from death and in Hospice care, but her cancer reversed and now she's a powerful and in-demand motivational speaker and is writing a book about her remarkable survival.

Yours truly (left) and Dr. Jinghong Li
The final speaker was Dr. Jinghong Li (left), President Elect of the an esteemed physician at UC San Diego who trained at Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing. Jinghong gave a charming and informed talk about her work with cancer patients and others and expressed her deep gratitude and support for the project.

Please Support This Global Friendship Initiative

The China Lymphoma Project is seeking funding to fulfill our global mission of friendship. Please support this historic project with a tax-deductible educational grant, please send a check payable to our nonprofit partner, The Children's Treehouse Foundation, a tremendous organization that supports children who have a parent with cancer. 

E-mail us at: info@childrenstreehousefdn.org 

 

Offices:
Denis M. Murray
Executive Director

The Children’s Treehouse Foundation
3333 S Wadsworth Blvd, Unit D318
Lakewood, Colorado 80227-5165

Tel: 303-322-1202

The time is now to support this effort. If you have any questions, or if you want to get involved in our project, call me or email me. 

My cell is 858-397-4950. 

My email is jreno@san.rr.com. 

Xie-xie,

Jamie Reno
Founder and Director
The China Lymphoma Project