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Family in Nashville
“Prepare for mass casualties…. coming to children’s hospital” was the message that we received at work this morning. Immediately my heart stopped beating and I nearly threw up.
The thought of any harm befalling these two boys is paralyzing and all consuming. I’m shattered and completely devastated for the families in this beautiful city who hugged their own “Basil boys” for the last time.
I’m at a loss for why we continuously tell ourselves we live in “the greatest country on earth” yet we reside in the one country that routinely witnesses the slaughter of our own children for the sake of… “freedom?” It will never make sense.
Barack Obama once said our children are like our own hearts beating outside of our chests, out in this dangerous world. To the families and the victims of this atrocity, and to my colleagues and the first responders who will never be the same, my heart breaks with yours today.
– Miles Basil
The Brooklyn College Cancer Center gets $2.6 million grant
My sister, Professor Jenny Basil (in red), is the Associate Director of Community Outreach for this terrific and growing initiative.
The Brooklyn College Cancer Center, BCCC-CURE, will be training, building, and supporting its network for the next generation of diverse cancer researchers thanks to a $2.6 million grant from the American Cancer Society.
Specifically, the Diversity in Cancer Research Institutional Development Grant (DICR IDG) titled “Supporting Cancer Research at Brooklyn College Cancer Center, a Highly Diverse Institution,” will support early career cancer researchers through $2.6 million over four years. The funding will go toward four areas: pilot grants for faculty who are in the early years of their tenure track; support for clinical scientists’ research and training; and offerings of two postdoctoral fellowships and six master’s scholarships over the length of the grant program.
Other funding earmarked for the center itself will support the mentoring of junior faculty, clinician scientists, and other early career scientists, travel to conferences for BCCC-CURE researchers, plus trainings and seminars on different areas of cancer research. It will also support the launch of the BCCC-CURE Molecular Modeling Laboratory for Cancer Therapeutics lead by Dr. Emilio Gallicchio, professor of chemistry at Brooklyn College and Dr. Shaneen Singh, professor of biology at the college.
“This grant constitutes a unique opportunity for Brooklyn College and the Brooklyn College Cancer Center to support cancer research activities, most specifically for early career scientists in a moment when we are hiring assistant professors,” said Maria Contel, director and research area leader of BCCC-CURE. “The money will support principal investigators and their research groups and allow us to train new experts in the field of cancer research. The support included in this grant for clinician scientists is key, as we will be able to recruit and collaborate with clinician scientists in research areas like cancer disparities, clinical translation of drugs, or cancer immunology.”
My train
My friends know I love a good train ride. And more than that, I count on one particular line, the Amtrak Cascades, to bring me to and from loved ones in the States. Discontinued at the start of the pandemic, Amtrak restarted partial service a few months ago, and in March Amtrak is bringing back the second train – early morning southbound to Washington State, night-time return to beautiful Vancouver. They’re hiring, and I could not be more pleased.
Below are photo tributes I made to my home stations, in Vancouver and Seattle, a few years back.
The new year
Literally nothing has gone according to plan during my holiday break, except for the love shared with my family and friends. I had to throw away Plan H earlier today.
Classes start next week – two sections of Advanced Professional Communications and one of Technical Report Writing (more fun that it sounds). I am looking forward to meeting my new students.
basil.CA 