It's always an eye opener visiting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.
It's an opportunity to watch the folks explain how they make everyday miracles happen. It was great to see the latest tool in the effort to fight childhood cancer on the campus, a new building featuring the first pediatric Proton therapy center.
At the time of my visit last Fall 2016, they had already treated over 100 patients. The latest medical technology is important here, equally so are the dedicated professionals who call St. Jude their work home.
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At one of the busy labs, I met PH.D. Vickie Frohlic, who grew up watching the Danny Thomas show.
Thomas was the founder of St. Jude Children's Research hospital. Dr. Frohlic moved her entire family to Memphis from Texas to work in research at St. Jude. She asked her kids to visit the hospital first, to get their buy in and they approved the move.
"My kids came back and said Mom, you have got to do this, you've got to be a part of this and I said I'm all for it. " said Dr. Frohlic.
So, when you visit the lab where they research the impact of cancer on human cells that is where you will find Dr. Frohlic. She is part of an army of researchers studying cancer, finding ways to kill the disease on while preserving the healthy tissue that surrounds it.
"We can in a dish, or on a single cell basis look at differences in how the cell behaves when challenged with different types of chemotherapy, we can do chemotherapy in a dish."
I could sense her excitement as she talked about their work, which underscores that getting the right people is just as important as getting the best technology at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
