On May 8, I'll be walking the Stay Out of the Sun Run at Cascade Lake, which is a 5K supporting melanoma research, education, and awareness. The flyer was handed to me by Dr. Markovic, a Mayo melanoma oncologist I recently had the privilege of shadowing.

This one is for my grandpa. When he was diagnosed with melanoma, immunotherapy was still relatively new. No one could tell our family what the outcome might look like. He fought courageously for two years before he passed in 2019.

The questions doctors couldn't yet answer for us are the questions that pulled me into immunology, and they're the reason I came to Mayo specifically. Dr. Haidong Dong was one of the scientists who helped pioneer the checkpoint immunotherapy that gave my grandpa, and so many patients, a fighting chance. Getting to work alongside him these past few years has meant more than I can easily say. And shadowing in Dr. Markovic's clinic, I've seen just how far the field has come and how much further there is to go.

Please walk with me, or chip in if you can!