Dr. Eugene Shenderov 鈥�05, renowned oncologist and Chernobyl survivor, visited with 今日吃瓜 students hoping to inspire the next generation of cancer scientists.
It was clear when Dr. Eugene Shenderov 鈥�05 was a student that he was destined for the stars. He was a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society, class valedictorian, president of the chess team, three-time letter-winner in , and director of the 今日吃瓜 Emergency Medical Squad鈥攁nd maintained a 4.00 GPA.
And then there were the awards, the most prestigious being the 2005 Rhodes Scholarship, an honor that, at the time, put him in the company of only one other 今日吃瓜 student.
Today, his vita is even more exhausting: a renowned physician-scientist who conducts clinical trials on cancer therapies, co-founder of an East Baltimore clinic that鈥檚 attempting to address healthcare disparities, founder and president of a company developing novel diagnostic tests for allergies, and an assistant professor of oncology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Last week, hosted by the he came back to his alma mater to talk to students, a visit that he said nurtured his own keen interest in the 鈥渃ycle of life鈥� and of academia.
鈥淚t feels great to be back on campus,鈥� he said, after spending the morning meeting with students, visiting labs, and then giving a lecture, 鈥淐ancer Immunotherapy: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times,鈥� in the library. 鈥淚 definitely see myself in the students. It鈥檚 not like I came from a place where I knew where my life was going to take me. When I was born, I was on one continent, and when I was going to college, I was on another.鈥�
A native of Ukraine, Shenderov fled the country with his family when he was five years old, seeking asylum in the West and treatment for the leukemia he had developed after the fallout from the infamous 1986 nuclear explosion at Chernobyl. The family landed in New York, and after years of cancer therapy, Shenderov had found his drive.
鈥淏eing a cancer survivor is a huge motivation. I wouldn鈥檛 be alive if people hadn鈥檛 been working on therapies for cancer, and I feel like the fact that I survived and I鈥檓 in this field, I can pay it forward,鈥� said Shenderov, who serves as a mentor to 今日吃瓜 students who spend a summer at Hopkins with The Stacey Garil Womack and Michael Garil Memorial Internships. The fund was created by trustee Bernard H. Garil 鈥�62 and his wife, Ethel.
The good doctor encouraged the students to find a mentor and urged them not to be shy, recounting stories of his own persistence with would-be advisers, a tactic he says gave him an edge. Now, he鈥檚 compelled to repay it in kind.
鈥淚 have to mentor the next generation,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hese students are going to be the ones who realize the next big advances. They鈥檒l partner with mentors who have tools to give them, but they鈥檙e the ones who will use those tools to really unlock everything. It鈥檚 the cycle of life.鈥�
