Top leukemia research is Bettendorf alum

By Chris Youngquist
Bettendorf News

A top physician -scientist is heading back to high school.

No, it isn't a movie plot.

Dr. Cheryl Willman, professor of pathology at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, where she directs the Center for Molecular and Cellular Diagnosis and Cancer Research & Treatment Center; is coming to Bettendorf.

Willman, an Indiana native who attended Bettendorf Middle School and Bettendorf High School, credits encouragement from district teachers with putting her on the unexpectedly scientific path to success.

"I was a young teenager, sort of strongly anti-Vietnam War, and I assumed that I would probably be going to law school. I was going to be a lawyer and I was going to cure the ills of the world," she said.

Instead, thanks in part to some well placed words from science teachers David Folks and Don Schaefer, and preparation from math teachers Ken Morning and Joanne Stuhr, among others, she put her passion into curing illness through cancer genetics research.

In 1993 she made headlines with research into a genetic cause of adult leukemia. Her article in the journal Science suggested an imbalance in two proteins caused by a missing half pair of genes could start the process that leads to leukemia. She holds a US patent in connection with that discovery and has published over 100 publications and review and five books and book chapters. In 1995 she was recognized by the Women in Science Hall of Fame.

No in its second hear, the Bettendorf High School visiting science scholars program will bring Willman, a 1973 graduate, to her alma mater next week.

Among her messages to the community where she became an adult will be the importance of the support and mentoring she has received throughout her educational and professional career. Now a New Mexico resident with a young son, Willman said she has come to appreciate the high quality of Iowa's public schools.

Her May 1 visit will include speaking during every block at the high school, an afternoon reception at RJ Boars Restaurant, and a public, evening presentation at the high school at 7pm.

Created in honor of longtime Bettendorf Science teacher Donald A. Schaefer and funded by an anonymous donor, the annual visiting science scholar award pays travel and a stipend for an accomplished scientist to speak about how science is used in his or her career.

Last year, NASA engineer John Albright, a member of the design team for the escape module on the new space station and a 1985 BHS graduate, returned to Bettendorf to discuss his experiences.

"Space has been something that has had good press and bad press, but to think that someone from Bettendorf Iowa had gone on to do what he did.... I think that's part of this, that the kids become inspired by others." said Pat (Bradley) Bereskin of the Bettendorf Schools Foundation, which administers the program.

She remembers Willman from their high school days in the class of 1973.

"She was involved in a number of activities in the high school, which makes her a strong candidate to come back and speak to the students," she recalled. "She was involved in the yearbook, drama. I remember her being a good writer."

Though she has not seen her former classmate for 27 years, she has followed her achievements through the class of 1973's Internet web site over the past few years.

From Bettendorf, Willman went on to study chemistry at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, then to Mayo Medical School in Rochester MN. She has been a recipient of a National Institute of Health Physician Scientist Aware and a clinical fellow at the American Cancer Society. She directs the Southwest Oncology Group and the Pediatric Oncology group, cooperative associations under the auspices of the National Cancer Institute, and has been on staff at the University of New Mexico since 1986.

The visiting scholars program is not limited to Bettendorf alumni, but the first two have been from the district ranks. The speakers are chosen based on student and staff input, availability and selection committee recommendation.

"If you've ever lived with or had a loved one who suffers from a great illness, you admire these people," Bereskin said. "These are the kind of people who are solving the great mysteries."