This Sunday, 7,000 runners will step up to the starting line for the 12th annual Boston Athletic Association (BAA) Half Marathon presented by Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund. 500 of them will run not only to set a personal record on the 13.1-mile course, but also to raise money for Dana-Farber. Included in that group are a number of runners we’re happy to call our colleagues. Here are two of their stories.
Kim Levine is a research technician in the Cancer Biology department. She intends to go to medical school soon and has been looking for a way to contribute to the Institute since she began working here.
“I am honored to be a part of an institution where the clinical staff provides the highest standard of care to its patients, and research scientists work tirelessly to develop new and innovative ways of understanding and treating cancer,” she says. “Each day I go to work knowing I am a part of something big and feel that I am making a difference.”
Andrew DoRosario also plans to attend medical school. He currently works as a senior clinical research coordinator in the Cutaneous Oncology department. After volunteering as a medical assistant at a children’s hospital in Ecuador, he decided to enter the medical field and serve others in “the most intimate form of human service one individual can perform for another: treating mind, body, and soul.”
The pursuit of finding better treatment options for patients with cancer hit DoRosario close to home when his older brother was diagnosed with testicular cancer. For him, checking in his brother at patient registration was agonizing.
“Dana-Farber has not only been my place of employment, but it has become my family after moving away from home,” DoRosario says. “I’m running for Dana-Farber because working here isn’t enough of a ‘thank you’ —from me, my family, and countless others.”
Good luck to all the runners this Sunday. Learn more about the Dana-Farber runners here.