#Craig Jordan

[justforbooks]

Craig Jordan

Pharmacologist whose research into tamoxifen helped many women with breast cancer to live longer

In the 1970s only 40% of women diagnosed with breast cancer could expect to survive for 10 years or more. Today that figure is over 75%. Screening and early diagnosis have played a part, but one of the key reasons for the improvement is the drug tamoxifen, which massively reduces the risk of cancer recurring after surgery.

The British-American pharmacologist Craig Jordan, who has died aged 76, was the first to show that tamoxifen could stop tumours growing by blocking the female hormone oestrogen from locking on to cells in the breast at specific sites called oestrogen receptors.

Breast cancer is the commonest cancer in women across the world and 80% of women with the disease have receptors that make them sensitive to oestrogen, which can stimulate cells in the breast to reproduce uncontrollably and form tumours.

Jordan’s lifelong study of tamoxifen led to the discovery of a range of other effective treatments for breast cancer that either blocked oestrogen receptors or reduced the amount of the hormone the body produces. His studies have also improved women’s health by shedding light on other conditions including endometrial cancer, osteoporosis and menopausal symptoms.

He made his discoveries in the face of huge scepticism from the medical community. He was not a medical doctor but a laboratory scientist who conducted his research on rats and mice. Tamoxifen does not kill cancer cells, it simply stops them from growing. The received wisdom in the 70s when he began his work was that the only way to deal with cancer was to cut it out, or blast it with radiation or powerful chemicals to destroy every trace of the tumour. Such treatments, though they can be effective, are distressing for patients and have many side effects.

“There was an obsession with the idea that that combination chemotherapies were going to cure all cancers,” Jordan told the website Oncology Central in 2019. “It felt like we were trying to swim upstream as we were saying no, target the [o]estrogen receptor and give tamoxifen forever and people will stay alive.”

It took decades before the evidence for tamoxifen’s effectiveness became undeniable. A number of clinical research groups, encouraged by Jordan’s laboratory results, had tested tamoxifen in patients, but the results, though encouraging, were too marginal to change practice.

In 1998 the Early Breast Cancer Triallists Collaborative Group, based in Oxford, combined the data from studies of 37,000 women to show that those with oestrogen-sensitive tumours who took tamoxifen for five years after surgery experienced a 47% reduction in the risk of the cancer returning and a 26% reduction in the risk of dying within 10 years.

Tamoxifen and other selective oestrogen receptor modulators are now part of the standard treatment for women who have had surgery for oestrogen-sensitive breast cancers.

Jordan’s mother, Cynthia Mottram, was a GI bride who met his father, Virgil Johnson, when he was in service as a soldier with the US army in Britain during the second world war. They returned to New Braunfels in Texas, where Jordan was born, but the marriage broke down and she brought her son back to her home in Cheshire when he was a toddler.

He attended Moseley Hall grammar school in Cheadle, where he took to chemistry with such enthusiasm that his mother let him set up a laboratory at home (leading to the kinds of near-disaster that punctuate the early lives of many successful scientists). After his mother remarried, Craig was adopted by his stepfather, Geoffrey Jordan, and took his name.

At first his ambition did not reach beyond working as a technician at the nearby ICI laboratories, but he successfully obtained a place at the University of Leeds to study pharmacology. Taking a summer job with ICI, he met the endocrinologist Arthur Walpole, who had been part of the team that developed tamoxifen, then known as ICI 46,474.

It was supposed to be a contraceptive, but early trials led to more pregnancies, rather than fewer. During his PhD at Leeds, Jordan developed strong links with the ICI scientists, who funded the early stages of his work on oestrogen receptors.

In 1972 Jordan went to the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in Massachusetts. The lab focused on contraception, but as ICI 46,474 had failed as a contraceptive Jordan began to examine its effects on breast cancer in rats. Meanwhile, in 1973, ICI had given the drug a name, tamoxifen, and launched it as a not particularly effective treatment for late-stage breast cancer.

The following year Jordan returned to Leeds as a lecturer, where he continued to collaborate with ICI. His key discoveries in this period were that given over a period of years, tamoxifen could be used to prevent cancer coming back after surgery; and that it could prevent cancer developing in women whose biology put them at particularly high risk. He also discovered a very effective breakdown product of tamoxifen that went on to form the basis of other drugs that prevent postmenopausal women from losing bone density.

In 1980 he moved permanently to the US, where he held senior positions at a succession of leading research universities, setting up a “tamoxifen team” at each, before finally settling in 2014 as a professor and chair of cancer research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. His further discoveries included a small increased risk of endometrial cancer with tamoxifen, so that doctors now screen their patients before prescribing the drug.

For much of his life, Jordan had an unusual parallel career as an adviser on biological and chemical weapons – and illicit drug use – to the British and US armies.

His family had a strong military heritage and he had joined the Officers’ Training Corps while a student at Leeds, combining his PhD research with stints with the army in Germany during the cold war. He went on to be recruited into the intelligence corps with the rank of captain, and subsequently became a member of the SAS reserve. He was an avid collector of antique weapons, and described himself as an “outstanding shot”.

He received many honours in the course of his career, and was appointed CMG in the Queen’s birthday honours in 2019 for services to women’s health. In turn he funded prizes, scholarships and special lectures at the universities of Leeds and Oxford, conscious of the debt he owed to British society for his early education and research opportunities. He was open about his diagnosis with kidney cancer in 2018 and continued working until shortly before his death.

Craig Jordan was married three times, each marriage ending in divorce. He is survived by Alexandra and Helen, his daughters from his first marriage, to Marion Williams, and five grandchildren.

🔔 Virgil Craig Jordan, pharmacologist, born 25 July 1947; died 9 June 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[wwprice1]

10 awesome DC covers for October!

[moonlayl]

theimeu on instagram.

It is not all hopeless, and we are causing more people to listen and more people to take action! Don’t stop talking about Palestine. This never would’ve happened just a few years ago. Things ARE changing.

[24601orwhatever]

BLACK JAVERTS FROM OVER THE YEARS

all very talented men who deserve some more spotlight on here! from L to R , top to bottom:

David Thomas Walker (2024 US TOUR) Shaq Taylor (LONDON 2017) Brian Stokes Mitchell (HOLLYWOOD BOWL 2008) Cornell John (LONDON 2005) Benjamin H. Moore (2022 US TOUR) Norm Lewis (2006 BROADWAY, 25TH ANNI, 2010 LONDON, 2013 THE MUNY) Jordan Donica (2024 THE MUNY) Donald Craig Manuel (2022 WEST END) Cameron Loyal (2023 US TOUR) Monté J. Howell (2017 US TOUR)

[stalebagels]

I just realized I've never just straight out asked who everyone's favorite host is, so here's a little poll.

(I forgot polls have a limited amount of options so if you don't see your guy or gal please tell me in the comments/tags who it is and why! I need to be enlightened)

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Meghan, thy name is PATHETIC!

These two numpties truly think they have outsmarted the world. Normal people don't repeatedly attempt to fool the world into thinking they are "whip smart" or accomplished by regurgitating childhood and adolescent fantasies. Meghan and Harry are clearly mentally deficient individuals with massive amounts of resources to serve as global court jesters.

During a festival that had absolutely NOTHING to do with the Temu Royal Snowcation 🌨 ❄ Tour, these idiots dashed on the stage to CYA after MegaLiar's poor performance as the "FLUENT duchess" who couldn't be bothered to memorize the pronunciation of their host's proper title: /bee-seh-preh-see-dehn-teh/ but the whip smart MegaLiar referred to her new amiga as /v-ICE / 😬🤦‍♀️

Sparry who has a hot & heavy bromance with Argentinean polo player named Nacho pretended that he was too dumb to say a simple thank you and good night to the crowd. He enlisted the help of his soap actress wife (who snatched the mic) for the Spanish "translation" as if the croud was too dumb to translate the simple English phrase for themselves.

Who is going to tell these idiots that even if she is the bilingual Duchess (which she's not) it would NOT make her special. You'd think the woman could speak Mandarin. 🥴

How pathetic 🤑

MegaLiar's need to overwhelm the internet with a lie about her being bilingual is just another reminder that this woman is a 1 trick pony with 1 ADULT accomplishment: sex with a drug addled brained prince. Sex with a dumb prince. Truly Pathetic.

What is Meghan Markle so desperate to Cover Up for the past 20 years? She literally flunked out of the state department before she could even get her foot in the door, yet she is constantly pushing & promoting "Argentina." She was humiliated into "relocating" to Madrid until her graduation ceremonies. Makes me wonder whether or not those sugarbaby rumors are true?

If she worked in Argentina "early in her career," then why is Meg pictured on the set of General Hospital so she could gain the necessary credentials to work Hollyweird?

She's also pictured with another liar, her BFF Lindsay Roth Jordan, on the day they both graduated from Northwestern as "candidates for degrees in Communications."

The Daily Mail:

Newlywed and newly employed on Season 1 of Suits, and during promo for Season 2 she drops the lie about Argentina. Makes you wonder what else was happening in Argentina.

2011 and Just Married to Trevor Engleson. Finally she booked her 1st TV series, and she's visibly embarrassed by 1 innocent question. She opted to lie. She reached all the way back to ten (10)+ years ago instead of simply saying, "...5 years ago I was looking for work." What are you hiding Megsy?🤔

She couldn't believe the question, "...what was I doing five (5) years ago?" She was embarrassed by 34 episodes as Season 2 Deal or No Deal model # 24 (2006-2007) would have been 8ish years ago so tell the truth Meg.

July 12th 2013 Promotion for one of her blog affiliates "Birchbox" just prior to dumping Trevor. "If I wasn't acting I would most likely be working in politics have a career in politics. I had been working at the US Embassy in Argentina and was certain I'd get into a career in foreign service much like my character Rachel it was really tough for me to pass the foreign service exam, Rachel had trouble passing the LSATs, end up coming back to LA for a break and a friend of mine from college had given a manager a student film that I did, he called me the next day and was like you know what, I think you should be acting. So if you're constantly just on your A game and you're ready for when that moment arises that's when things can take off in a much bigger way. Success is reachable."

She wrote this for Birchbox: "USA's SUITS is one of our top summer TV shows—not least for its awesome female characters. While the guys of Pearson may rule the roost, it's the ladies who steal the show. Case in point: the whip-smart Rachel Zane, played by Meghan Markle. We sat down with Markle to find out about her foodie favorites, her background in Foreign Service, and the one beauty product..."

More lies on the red carpet

Mid Season 2 Promo at The Paley Center for Media Jan 14th 2013

"And I read that you were never originally going to go into acting!?"

Lies: "no I was gonna do politics...I grew up in LA so I grew up in this industry and obviously loved entertainment, my father's a lighting director I just always wanted to do something different and working in politics was exciting for me but I'm saying as we were driving up 2 blocks down the street is paper source. I used to teach gift wrapping classes there. I used to teach calligraphy classes there and so to be here tonight and to see that contrast happen in my life from an auditioning actress just trying to make it work to pilot after pilot to have one that's going into 3rd season with fans who are so supportive I mean I couldn't be more grateful. It's really amazing."

Almost 8 years later and she's on Craig Ferguson's show to promote Suits and still lying about her education and Argentina. Why?

I've always thought it was interesting that Meghan and Sparry were in Argentina around the same time, and of course Diana was there in 1995.

"On 23 November 1995, Diana, Princess of Wales arrived in Argentina to begin a historic, four-day visit to the South American country. While not an official state visit, the trip was undertaken by Diana in her newly-defined role as goodwill ambassador for Britain. The visit, which was the Princess of Wales' first international engagement since her controversial Panorama interview, was seen as an important step in the warming of relations between the UK and Argentina, the countries having fought one another in the Falklands War of 1982 and resumed diplomatic relations in 1990. The footage featured in this edit covers the full four days of Princess Diana's visit, including her famous meeting with Argentine president Carlos Menem, her visits to a number of charities and hospitals in Buenos Aires, whale-watching in Argentine Patagonia, and attending a charity gala banquet."

Prince Harry cuts short visit to Argentina.

Thursday, November 25th 2004 

Twenty year old Prince Harry flew back to London from Buenos Aires Thursday afternoon after the Argentine press revealed he had become a “head ache” for those responsible for his security.

Apparently the Prince was scheduled to return next week but Buckingham Palace decided to anticipate the date given the adverse press coverage he was receiving during his alleged "night incursions" to local pubs and discos.

Although British Airways desk said any information relating to Prince Harry was "confidential", from early hours the reinforcement of security measures in Ezeiza's airport was evident.

Local reports indicate Prince Harry boarded the plane in good humour.

The second son of the Prince of Wales arrived in Argentina November 12 and was staying in estancia "El Remanso" close to the town of Lobos in the province of Buenos Aires belonging to some British friends, where supposedly he was to take polo classes and rest before returning to England for Christmas and Sandhurst military academy next January.

However his sport activities in Argentina were known to be limited since the prince had an injured knee from a recent rugby match.

Mayor of Lobos, Gustavo Sobrero minimized the press versions about Prince Harry's behaviour, particularly last Wednesday early morning when shots were heard in a nearby farm which forced a quick security response in the area.

"This visit hasn't altered normal life in the area. Besides it is quiet common during the hunting season to hear shots", said Mr. Sobrero.

As to Prince Harry's alleged night escapades to town pubs Mr. Sobrero indicated that "as far as we are concerned we haven't been informed".

According to Buenos Aires daily "Página 12" on his return from town partying Prince Harry was in quite "bad condition" given his "uncontrolled consumption of alcohol".

[ilikestuff69]

Actors I think would be good in a Knives Out movie (Part 4 of 4)

Lauren Ridloff

Adam Driver

Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Michael B. Jordan

Alfre Woodard

Paul Rudd

Aubrey Plaza

Peter Dinklage

Gemma Chan

Cameron Monaghan

[senditcolton]

Happy Pi Day from the St. Louis Blues!

[sunwarmed-ash]

on a tangentially related note, im rewatching Emo the Musical, if you are a millenial or just an emo/alt kid in general I really really must insist you watch it.

its an incredible indie Australian film free on youtube rn.

please please watch it and tell me what you think, and if you really like it I wrote some fanfic 🖤🤘

[hootball]

JORDAN LUPLOW, JOHAN ROJAS & CRAIG KIMBREL [20230811] MIN @ PHI

[jasvvy]

D.R.E.A.M. Tournament 2023 Semi Final 50.000 Thumbtacks Death Match

Jordan Samson vs. Vic Craig

[bobsyauncle]

Ok idk if no one’s thought of this yet or if EVERYONEs thought of it and I’m stoopid BUT the fact that knives out was about books and glass onion was about art is so cool to me

[blackramhall]

Wake Up a Knives Out 3 fan casting.

Blackram Hall: whodunit, murder mystery, hardboiled, pulp, crime, thriller, italian giallo, noir and neo-noir, detectives and serial killers, macabre tales, spy stories, vintage, manor houses, art, life and death. Avatar pic by Mitchell Turek

[ufonaut]

The uncontrollable, irresponsible force that you still live in fear of-- that zany-but-lovable control freak who nearly reshaped the universe-- me!

Highlights of Parallax in The Spectre (2001) #10

(J.M. DeMatteis, Craig Hamilton)

[offsidenewsco]

"There have been seven coach firings during the 2023-2024 season alone, and that’s not even counting the one that took place before training camp began! With the regular season coming to a close this week, let’s take some time to reflect on these fallen divas and how entertaining it was to watch them lose their jobs."

Read more here.