Renato Dulbecco…ring any bells? 

If you say “yes” then I bow to your knowledge of the science of cancer, but I’m guessing you’re going to the “Google” search engine right about now to see who Dulbecco was.  I say was, because he just passed-away, four days shy of his 98Th birthday.  But did he leave a big footprint before he left us. He changed medicine by exploring the genetic footprint and shared the Nobel Prize in 1975 for providing crucial early discoveries in the genetic nature of cancer.

Dulbecco opened the door to scientists everywhere and showed them the path to unlocking cancer’s mysteries.

Many feel that one of his greatest contributions, post-Nobel, was a paper he wrote in 1986 for the journal Science, where he advocated the complete sequencing of the human genome.  Talk about forward thinking and to add a punctuation mark to that idea, was the thought that unraveling the human genome would be a key to understanding what makes cancer…cancer. 

In simple words, this man was genius and whether he knew it or not, touched all of us who live in cancer world. 

He spent his life looking for answers inside all those elusive cancer cells.  He had a huge impact on cancer and genetic research, and his work will live on.

When he retired from the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, at 92, he said he would spend his days performing opera.  Dr. Dulbecco was a classically trained pianist.

He was a hero too.