It has been a long road since my first conversation with Gillison in 2000. Back then she was just a young upcoming researcher with some interesting, but unproven ideas. I am very proud of the fact that OCF was able, especially in the early days, to give her money for small proof of principal studies, that attracted the attention of the big fundeers like the NIH/NCI. Now we are no longer looking at such small groups of people, as we have co-sponsors like the NCI, and Maura has become the research equivalent of a "rock star."

But make no mistake, that while I wished for the foundation to go in this HPV direction, it was the many, many individuals that walked at our events, that for years have regularly sent in their donations, that told someone else about OCF's efforts to raise further financial support, that made the effort possible. OCF has never received the big grants from corporate sponsors, but we have had hundreds and hundreds of small donors that believed in us. A sad truth to many of our donations is that they often come as gifts in lieu of flowers when one of our own reaches the end of their battle. Maura Gillison is about to publish the results of the latest work on oral cancer and HPV, and I am proud to say we continue to be part of the financial sponsors of this further understanding.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with the sequence of published, peer reviewed information that this collaboration has produced (all published in highly respected journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of Oncology, and the Journal of the National Cancer Institute) it includes papers that established definitively that HPV16 was not only a cause of OC, but a unique etiology, and not part of a synergy with anything else such as tobacco. The next paper established the anatomical sites where HPV tends to causes cancers. Then the paper that defined the completely NEW demographic make-up of the people that were getting oral cancers from HPV16. Then one which established the survival advantage that viral OC patients have, then the one that defined the patient's HPV status after treatments. And it is not over, Dr. Gillison has a path of exploration that will continue for many years, and OCF will continue to be her supporter.

Those of you that have supported OCF, have been part of this wealth of information. Information that is changing who gets screened, and eventually how treatments may be modified to address the uniqueness off this particular disease. People who care and are engaged, can change the world.