Saturday, July 16, 2005
How Can We Support This Guy?
Ex-Shrimper a Self-Taught Genetics Expert - Yahoo! News: "Brad Margus was making a killing in the shrimp business and living happily in South Florida with his wife and three young boys. Then his two youngest were diagnosed with a fatal genetic brain disorder that's as rare as it is unpronounceable.
It's called ataxia-telangiectasia, better known as 'A-T,' and it afflicts about 500 youngsters in the United States.
Since doctors told Margus in 1993 that his toddlers Jarrett and Quinn would soon be confined to wheelchairs and probably dead before they were old enough to vote, the Harvard Business School graduate has been on a mission to save the boys from their genetic fate.
In the process, he has become a self-taught genetics expert, a lobbying fixture on Capitol Hill and head of his own startup biotech company, making him a learned colleague alongside the field's leading scientists."
Let's face it. What this guy is doing is amazing. The press doesn't choose to cover these stories often enough, but to hear of a man who is a self-taught geneticist is beyond a normal person's imagination. I have only known one other person to do that, and he finally did attend college to round out his knowledge. When people are trying to cure extraordinarily complex diseases, complete with his background, we need to do more than admire him. We need to find a way to support him.
It's called ataxia-telangiectasia, better known as 'A-T,' and it afflicts about 500 youngsters in the United States.
Since doctors told Margus in 1993 that his toddlers Jarrett and Quinn would soon be confined to wheelchairs and probably dead before they were old enough to vote, the Harvard Business School graduate has been on a mission to save the boys from their genetic fate.
In the process, he has become a self-taught genetics expert, a lobbying fixture on Capitol Hill and head of his own startup biotech company, making him a learned colleague alongside the field's leading scientists."
Let's face it. What this guy is doing is amazing. The press doesn't choose to cover these stories often enough, but to hear of a man who is a self-taught geneticist is beyond a normal person's imagination. I have only known one other person to do that, and he finally did attend college to round out his knowledge. When people are trying to cure extraordinarily complex diseases, complete with his background, we need to do more than admire him. We need to find a way to support him.
