WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR

Today is the final of the World Cup. Lionel Messi is the best player of this generation and arguably the best player ever... However, he has not yet won football's greets trophy - the World Cup. Today, he can change that.

There are players who feel like family, and for whom you wish success. Messi is one of those players. I would give anything to see him win this tournament. May my wish come true!

TRANSATLANTIC

Yesterday, I finished Colum McCann's most recent novel TransAtlantic. It is a novel that spans five generations, three wars, two countries while linking the story lines of numerous families.

More than anything, this book is about how we are all bound together. In that sense, it is very similar to Mr. McCann's prior novel Let the Great World Spin. That book is not quite required reading for TransAtlantic, but rather a continuation of similar themes.

We begin with a transatlantic crossing of men named Alcock and Brown in a plane in the early 20th century from Newfoundland to Ireland. Then, we are introduced to the freeman Frederick Douglass during his visit to Ireland in the 19th century. There, Douglass meets and inspires a young Irish maid named Lucy Duggan. Because of this meeting, Lucy decides to try her luck in America and make a better life for herself. The book continues with the story lines of Lucy's life in America and that of her descendants on both sides of the Pond. The latter stages of the book include the Irish peace process shepherded by George Mitchell that weaves in some of Lucy's descendants.

Only a bold writer could tackle such a storyline, and McCann is up to the task. His own life took him on a transatlantic journey from Ireland to America, so he has a firsthand appreciation for what many of these characters went through.

As an immigrant, myself, I empathized with many of these characters. My migration might have only been transnational, but this book gave me an even greater respect and appreciation for my parents. They scarified everything and moved not once but twice (first from India to Canada and then later tot he US) to give us the greatest opportunities possible on this earth.

It is fitting that this book is really about shared experience and how we become the people whom we will become. There are two passages in particular that leaped out to me. McCann writes, "What was life anyway? An accumulation of small shelves of incident. Stacked at odd angles to each other."

Near the end of the book, McCann also writes, "The tunnels of our lives connect, coming to daylight at the oddest moments, and then plunge us into the dark again. We return to those lives of those that have gone before us, a perplexing mobius strip until we come home, eventually, to ourselves," and "we seldom know what echo our actions will find, but our stories will most certainly outlast us."

Let us all appreciation the twists and turns that our lives take - both good and bad - for our life and our individual character are forged of both.

IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING

The World Cup is coming to a close, and it has been a truly sensational tournament.

Unsurprisingly, my favorite player Lionel Messi has shined. He has single-handedly carried Argentina to four straight victories, and he has scored nearly all their goals.

It turns out that Messi's play in this tournament and in the past few seasons has truly been out of this world. Do not take my word for it! Read this piece that uses statistical analysis to assess Messi versus other top players.

The author's conclusion is clear: Messi is Impossible.

However, to quote the slogan of Messi's football boots sponsor Adidas: Impossible is nothing.

Messi seems to prove that adage right every time he takes the field. Vamos Messi and Argentina!

PROMOTION

This post is not about promotion of soccer teams, the term that describes the process by which lower tier teams move up to higher leagues. Rather, tonight, I received word that I was promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor of Medicine. I was thrilled to hear this news, but mostly I was relieved.

You see, I have been at my current position for seven years, and during that time I have worked hard to contribute in the three areas that are expected of a faculty member - teaching, service, and research. However, hard work alone does not guarantee one a promotion. One must demonstrate that one's efforts have been substantive and that these efforts have led to the betterment of the institution.

As you can imagine, there is a lot of subjectivity in judging an individual's accomplishments. That is why the applicant writes a letter, much like a grant document, to convince the promotion committee that one deserves promotion.

Writing this type of document focused on me was quite difficult. Many of my friends and colleagues advised me to write this as though my mother or father were writing it and to extol my virtues without regard for humility. I followed their advice, but their edits invariably played up my accomplishments more than I had. I suppose that if one cannot convince one's self that a promotion is justified, one will not convince a committee of one's peers.

As I finalized this letter last fall, I reflected on my efforts over the past seven years. I looked back on all the committee meetings, lectures, and countless weekends in the lab or in my office. There was an opportunity cost to doing all those things. Likewise, not doing those things would have jeopardized my ability to be promoted. Surely, there must be a way to achieve balance?

Moving forward, I hope to become more focused and to devote my efforts to being great in specific areas - namely my research - while trying to limit other assignments or activities that might dilute this focus or diminish my time with equally valuable pursuits - i.e. my family.

While I am thrilled to be one step closer to tenure, I want my tenure on this earth to be both productive but also enjoyable and healthy. Here's to advancing up the ladder but not losing sight of the wonderful view from where one stands with the people one loves!

R01

R01.

Three simple characters.

However, there is nothing simple about securing an R01, which is an independent investigator grant from the NIH. I know this first hand. That is why I was so grateful to hear last week that my R01 grant was funded.This type of award means several things that I will attempt to describe below.

First, it means that one has surmounted an incredibly high academic bar. The NIH receives thousands of R01 grants each year, but less than 10% of these grants are funded. That is not to say that the other 90% are terrible. Indeed, investigators spend years generating a body of work to support the central idea for their R01 grant, and it is not uncommon to spend one year writing this 12 page document.

Second, an R01 means that one has some measure of security. This is because an R01 is generally a five year award as opposed to most other grants that are only one to three years. The dollar amount for an R01 is also generally higher than most other grants, so one is better equipped to pay for one's own salary, staffs' salaries, and supplies. An R01 also means that one can temporarily take a breather from continuously writing grant proposal after grant proposal. Whew! I should have been an English major.

Finally, an R01 comes with the obligation to do meaningful science that will impact human health in a positive way. My project focuses on figuring out how a key protein called lysine specific demethylase 1 (LSD1) promotes progression of the lethal form of prostate cancer. Importantly, we have identified a drug that blocks LSD1's function, and we have designed experiments to determine how blocking LSD1 leads to prostate cancer control. We have high hopes that we will be able to move this drug to the clinic very soon.

So, tonight I raise a glass. I do not celebrate myself. Rather, I toast all of those who made this award possible. I am indebted to my family more than anyone else. They have tolerated me working six to seven days per week and missing summer vacations because of the need to work on proposals such as this one. I could not do what I do without their understanding. and support. I am also grateful to my lab staff who work tirelessly to generate the data that makes our arguments strong in grants like this one and in our manuscripts. Finally, I am also grateful to my mentors and colleagues at work who have helped facilitate my success and provided me so much guidance.

You see it takes a village to secure an R01. Tonight, I am one happy villager!