b'Tom and Kari Whitehead launched the Emily Whitehead Foundation in 2015,and it has since raised more than $2 million to help fund research. Tom Whitehead But theres more to the story. The human Father of the First Pediatric immune system is a dizzyingly complex CAR T-cell Therapy Patientmachine, one pieced together over eons through evolutionary trial and error. We tinker It was 2012, and Tom and Kari Whiteheadswith it at our peril. In Emilys case, levels of theNow more than 11 years cancer free,daughter Emily, age six, had relapsed despiteinflammation-producing protein IL-6 shot upEmily Whitehead is a thriving college student.months of chemotherapy. Her acute lym- 1,000 times above normal, and it nearly killed phoblastic lymphoma (ALL) had progressedher. She was saved by an enterprising physi- advocate for all patients who can be treated to the point that a bone marrow transplantcian whose daughter took an IL-6-suppressingwith advanced therapies and, more recently, was out of the question. Emilys providersdrug for rheumatoid arthritis. They tried it withtarget bottlenecks in manufacturing, treat-recommended in-home hospice care. EmilysEmily. Targeted immunosuppressants arement, and access that are creating long parents refused to give up on her.now commonly prescribed along with CARpatient backlogs. TheirdeterminationbroughtthemtoT-cell therapy. Were just not delivering enough of these Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, whichEmily now attends the university whosetreatments, Tom Whitehead says. Just 20% was about to launch the first CAR T-cell pedi- scientists and physicians cured her, andof those eligible have received it. Were looking atric clinical trial, one led by University ofthere are six FDA-approved CAR T-cell ther- to advocate for patients in a meaningful way.Pennsylvania researchers. The experimentalapies. Meanwhile, the University of ColoradoThe Emily Whitehead Foundations advocacy therapy would train Emilys immune systemSchool of Medicines HI3 Initiative, the Gateshighlights a reality familiar to the Colorado life to see cancer cells that otherwise remainBiomanufacturing Facility and ClinImmunesciences community and beyond. We must hidden. The process would involve extractingat Fitzsimons Innovation Community, andinnovate on many fronts, from lab research T cells from Emilys blood and reprogrammingothers in Colorado have developed deepthrough care delivery and across the organi-them by adding a gene for a chimeric antigenCAR-T expertise, and its helping patients inzational processes that provide health care as receptor (the CAR in CAR T) that would bindthe Mountain West.efficiently and effectively as we possibly can. to a cancer-cell protein otherwise cloaked fromCAR T-cell therapy has come a long way,The stories of patients like Emily Whitehead, her own T cells. They would multiply the engi- but theres still much to learn. Tom and KariBrooke Eby, and Siri Lindley remind us not neered T cells in the lab, and then infuse themWhitehead launched the Emily Whiteheadonly of why its so vital to continue to innovate, back into the sick child. Emilys immune system,Foundation in 2015, and it has since raisedbut also why its worth going all in as we move now unblindfolded to ALL, would take it out. more than $2 million to help fund research,health care forward.2024-2025 BIOSCIENCE COLORADO 25'