Keep Your Body Fit and your Mind Fitter - Dr. Joseph R. Bertino (August 16, 1930 - October 11, 2021)

It was 2018 when Dr. Joseph R. Bertino was awarded the AACR Lifetime Achievement Award in Cancer Research. When I heard the announcement, I cancelled all my meetings and flew to Chicago to attend the ceremony to be a cheerleader for Joe.

I have been fortunate to be blessed with some of the best mentors. In choosing my mentors I made sure they not only were successful professionally but also has a great family life. My quest for a perfect mentor lead me to Dr. Joseph R. Bertino, MD, Professor, Rutgers University, who eventually became my PhD advisor and later a long term collaborator. Lovingly refereed to as "Dr, B.", Joe Bertino has been a great physician, advisor, mentor to many and an amazing human-being. He devoted his life to improving therapies for cancer and hematologic disorders and contributed his expertise toward establishing the foundation of modern cancer research (see Joseph R. Bertino: 50 Years of Cancer Research, A Golden Opportunity).

Joe, at the time I met him, had spent more than 50 years of his life in taking care of thousands of cancer patients. His fellows were leading some of the nation’s leading hospitals, cancer centers, and universities. Among countless awards and honors, Joe is the recipient of 2008 AACR–Joseph H. Burchenal (Father of Cancer Chemotherapy) Memorial Award and Lecture where he presented my work on precision medicine (Mishra et. al., 2007, PNAS). Joe has been a great mentor, a long-term collaborator, and an amazing human being. He recruited me to lead the cancer drug discovery efforts in his department by saying “Prasun, young and hardworking folks like you are much needed in cancer research field. We are stuck with few old drugs that are not working. We need new blood like you in taking the cancer drug discovery to the next level and bring new drugs to clinic.”

In particular I remember attending a party in his home in New Haven, Connecticut. While driving to his home I missed an exit and coincidentally found a very scenic route. When I reached his home, I shared this story with him and he mentioned to me that sometimes missing an exit can be a good thing, as it leads to the discovery of a new route. That is certainly true in science; when one experiment does not work, it may lead to an entirely new path and discovery.

This came true for me on several projects like those that led to the discovery of a new role for small RNA in drug resistance, pharmacogenomics, and precision medicine (Mishra et. al., 2007, PNAS); and a new role for mesenchymal stem cells as a source of carcinoma associated fibroblasts, supporting tumor growth (Mishra et. al., 2008, Cancer Research, made on to the cover of Cancer Research).

I eventually graduated with a Dean’s Research Award, “three” Young Investigator Awards, the AACR-AstraZeneca Scholar in Training Award, as well as the Outstanding Thesis Research Award (University’s Highest Honor). I remember, Joe introducing me on several occasions by saying “Prasun ranks in the upper 1% the investigators that I have mentored during my career. I don’t believe any of them have been as productive as he.” With my humble nature, I would blush, giving an embarrassed grin; however, coming from him, this meant a lot to me.

Last year we all gathered and cheered virtually on his 90th birthday. His 90th birthday party was cancelled due to COVID-19. However, we all gathered virtually to wish him a long and healthy life. We promised him a grand party to be hosted on his 100th birthday. I learned many secrets of longevity from Joe including one that he often uttered "Keep Your Body Fit and your Mind Fitter."

I did not know last year that he will leave us all so soon. I am deeply saddened by the news of his passing. Over the years Joe and I developed a friendship that we both deeply cherished. I still remember our last in person meeting, we spent some quality time together going through our memory lane and brainstorming new discovery ideas. We had our mutual memories, stories, scientific theories and jokes that only we and some of the friends in our circle would have understood. With loosing such a friend, I feel like a part of me is missing.

Rest in peace Joe, you are dearly missed. You and your memories will live with us forever.

An article about Joe that was recently published.

Parts of this story has been derived from the article below: