MONEY, POWER, STATUS. Most of us want these things, but how far are you willing to go to get them? Would you lie, cheat, steal? Would you ruin careers? What about murder? Mass mur-der? Dr Joe Parker is a talented hematologist/oncologist and world-renowned researcher who joins the state medical center in Mountville as Head of the Cancer Center with high hopes of bring-ing his cachet to an institution desperately in need of it. There are many good people at Mountville who are dedicated to healing and moving scientific research forward, including one down-on-his-luck former star athlete who fell from grace into a bottle of booze, but climbed out to find a new ballgame in cancer research, with Joe as his champion. It quickly becomes clear that there is a power group that wants to steal Joe's money and space, and will make fraudulent claims of scientific misconduct as one avenue to achieve their aims. Joe realizes too late that he is surrounded by men who are praying at the altar of money, power, and status and forgetting that the Hippocratic oath states, "First do no harm." Joe sees the blind ambition of top academic scientists who will stop at nothing to achieve their overwhelming desire for money, prizes, and fame, including international mass murder via a viral epidemic. Joe ends up having to save his lab, his career, and maybe even his own life thanks to finding a friend in the most unexpected of places; a mafia hit man who develops cancer and finds a new calling.
About the Author: Dr Peter J Quesenberry is the Paul Calabresi, MD Professor of Oncology and Director of Hematology/Oncology Research at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, RI. He is a leading investigator in stem cell biology and extracellular vesicle research, both cutting edge areas. He lists over 400 publications, 310 on PubMed, and has previously been the Director of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Virginia, Director of the Cancer Center at UMass, Director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Program and Cancer Center at Roger Williams Medical Center, Director of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital and most recently has been named the Director of Hematology/Oncology Research at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, RI. He is the American editor of the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, and a previous editor of the Journal of Experimental Hematology. Dr Quesenberry also served time in the United States Navy in Vietnam. Prior to this he was captain of the University of Virginia Lacrosse team and an honorable mention all American. He lives on the East Side of Providence with his wife Marilyn. He has two sons, Matthew Quesenberry who is in practice with him at Brown, and Preston Quesenberry who is a tax expert in the IRS and lives in Takoma Park, MD.