Huiping Liu, associate professor of pharmacology and medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, appeared on the Cancer Luminaries podcast. This series was launched by the UChicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center to mark its 50th year as an NCI-designated center.
Liu earned her PhD in medical sciences from UChicago and completed part of her postdoctoral training there. She spoke with Camilla Frost-Brewer, UChicago’s program manager for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
They discussed Liu’s mentorship from scientists including Kay Macleod, Geoff Greene, and Suzanne Conzen, Liu’s ongoing work in basic and translational research, and the catalyst for Liu’s career in oncology—a beloved middle school teacher’s leukemia diagnosis.
“When I heard [about] her diagnosis in high school, I was desperate to do everything to save her life. I said, ‘Oh, I should go to medical school,’” Liu said.
While attending medical school in the 1990s, Liu helped her former teacher obtain a promising new immunotherapy drug. It initially seemed to work, but she died soon after.
“I was so disappointed. I said, ‘Being a doctor may not be enough, because for a lot of incurable diseases, we need more new drugs,’” Liu said. “So, that’s how I decided to pursue a researcher career, being a cancer researcher, hopefully developing new drugs in the future.”
Previously, the Cancer History Project highlighted Cancer Luminaries podcast episodes featuring Suzanne Conzen, chief of the Hematology and Oncology Division at UT Southwestern Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, Todd Golub, director and founding core member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Otis W. Brawley, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Oncology and Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, and co-editor of the Cancer History Project (The Cancer Letter, Aug. 2, May 10, May 3, 2024).
The podcast recording and transcript of the interview with Liu are now available on the Cancer History Project:
Cancer Luminaries Podcast: Dr. Huiping Liu on Following Your Passion
By University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center, Sept. 6, 2024
A production of the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center in honor of the 50th anniversary of National Cancer Institute designation.
Host Camilla Frost-Brewer spends time with Alumni Star and translational cancer researcher Huiping Liu, associate professor of pharmacology and medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Liu leads a cross-disciplinary team that uses advanced technologies to investigate the root causes of cancer. In this episode, she shares how a favorite teacher’s cancer diagnosis launched her personal mission to cure cancer. She also shares her tips for cultivating a lab culture that prioritizes passion, collaboration, innovation, and compassion.
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