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A race for blood cancer research

By The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society | April 01, 2025

Caring about something makes you want to take action. To get moving. And when you care about people with blood cancer, you might feel that pull more urgently. You want to make your next move count.  

The people who keep The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) mission going never stand still. Some volunteer at our community events; some advocate with lawmakers for better access to healthcare. And some join Team In Training, an LLS Athletics program, to move their bodies in support of finding blood cancer cures. There are countless ways to join in—from hiking or cycling to doing it your own way. 

Dr. Brian Druker chose running. With decades’ worth of miles under his belt, he’s taking on a new challenge this spring: running the Boston Marathon. Boston’s race is one of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, a series of legendary marathons worldwide. Many seasoned runners make it their mission to earn the six-star medal, a marker that they’ve completed all six races. 

But there’s a reason Dr. Druker is choosing to run in Boston as part of the Team. He’s been a pioneering blood cancer researcher for more than 30 years, so he knows this work matters. And he knows LLS continues to change people’s lives—including his own. 

Brian Druker, a white man, wears a button-down shirt and tie and holds a medical pipette in a research laboratory.

The starting line of research 

Early in his research career, Dr. Druker decided to focus on an abnormality that drives leukemia—specifically, chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a type of blood cancer that has to be managed over time, with a life expectancy of three to five years. At first, he was told his ideas were “impractical,” and as a “struggling, unheralded researcher,” it was hard to find funding for the research he wanted to do. 

Then came 1996, a year Dr. Druker can’t ever forget. “That year, LLS launched a first-of-its-kind program to fund researchers working on promising drugs that might someday be tested in patients,” he recounts. “Their funding provided me with a lifeline that allowed me to continue my work.” 

About two years later, Dr. Druker and his team launched the first clinical trials using imatinib, a novel drug designed to kill CML cells without harming normal cells. Even Dr. Druker and his team couldn't have predicted the trials’ success. “Within six months, every one of our patients was responding,” he recalls.  

Under the name Gleevec, the drug gained FDA approval to treat CML in 2001. Now, patients with CML can expect to live a normal lifespan. Dr. Druker still keeps in touch with many of the original trial patients.  

In fact, one of them, who was eleven years old when she participated in the trial, “was told she would not live long enough to graduate from high school,” he says. He met with her recently: now grown, she’s married with two children—a future her family didn’t know was possible back in 1996. “This is the innovative work that LLS has and continues to support,” says Dr. Druker. 

Racing to advance blood cancer treatments  

Running has been part of Dr. Druker's life for decades. He’s completed a few U.S. marathons already, including Chicago in 2003—his first World Marathon Major. For years, he pushed his daughter Julia in her stroller as part of his daily run to work. "She was always a joyful and enthusiastic partner, laughing and waving at passers-by,” he remembers.  

And this April, almost-college grad Julia will be running the Boston Marathon alongside him. Both of them will be wearing bright purple Team In Training jerseys to show their dedication to people with blood cancer.  

Dr. Druker’s fundraising goal for LLS—half a million dollars—is ambitious. To him, every penny is worth the effort, and the miles. He now serves as a lead investigator on LLS’s Beat AML Master Clinical Trial, which is transforming treatment for people with acute myeloid leukemia, an especially aggressive type of blood cancer. He knows this work is more important than ever, and he’s ready to push himself, physically and otherwise, to keep it going. 

“I’m grateful for the continued support of LLS for our ongoing work, and I’m honored to be raising funds for this remarkable organization,” he shares. 

A man stands at a speaking podium, surrounded by orange balloons. He's facing a small crowd of people sitting in folding chairs or standing as they listen to him. A young girl wearing a dress and hair bow waves in the foreground.

Get moving—to feel good and find cures 

If you’re like Dr. Druker, looking for a new challenge that can help people with blood cancer, you’re in the right place. Whether you want to improve your personal best, or just do your best, the LLS community might be your next move. You can apply for any of the World Marathon Majors through Team In Training. People with blood cancer want to know who they can count on. Show them that’s you.  

Interested in getting involved with LLS another way? Check out: 

Sources

Druker, Brian. “Running Is in Our Blood: Boston Marathon for LLS.” 2025. Givengain.com. 2025. https://www.givengain.com/project/brian-raising-funds-for-the-leukemia-and-lymphoma-society-massachusetts-chapter-89447

Iqbal, Nida, and Naveed Iqbal. 2014. “Imatinib: A Breakthrough of Targeted Therapy in Cancer.” Chemotherapy Research and Practice 2014 (May): 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/357027

“Meet Dr. Brian Druker | Knight Cancer Institute | OHSU.” n.d. Www.ohsu.edu. https://www.ohsu.edu/knight-cancer-institute/meet-dr-brian-druker

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