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Craig Jordan – 1958-1965
I believe the educational opportunities I received at Moseley Hal Grammar School were exceptional, though it must be said I was not a star pupil! In fact, I was caned by Mr. Durant, and spent a large amount of time at the lunch break standing outside the Prefect's room as punishment for some offence, but reading chemistry books, which was going to serve me wel in the future.
When I came to Moseley Hal , I was particularly interested in two things. One, the army, and number two, chemistry. My grandfather had been an Army officer in the Cheshire Regiment in both World Wars, and his house in Wilmslow was a tribute to the British Empire with bayonets and guns scattered around. I don't know where the chemistry came from, but when we lived in Bramhal , my mother al owed me to convert my bedroom into a chemistry laboratory. With al of the toxic chemicals and explosions, I'm In the second form, I was disappointed that we did not have a Combined Cadet Force (CCF), so Mr. Turner, the PT master, al owed me to start an "Army Club" in the gym. These were the good old days when school masters were quite happy to have one of their pupils teaching about making bombs and home defence. The Army Club only lasted about a Term.
Mr. Bescoby, my biology teacher and in the Sixth Form, the Careers master, al owed me to start a Zoology Club, and gave me a laboratory to teach other boys biological chemistry. One of the boys, Andrew Mawson, subsequently read medicine at Leeds University. He practices near Tadcaster. Mr.
Bescoby also gave me private tuition on the molecular biology of DNA to prepare me for the "S" level Zoology paper. I won the school prize for Zoology (but requested a great chemistry book as my prize). I subsequently dedicated one of my papers to Mr. Bescoby in 1992. It was my first molecular biology paper. Mr. Anderson and Mr. Radford, two chemistry teachers, encouraged me to do a lot of chemistry once the exams were over. So, each lunchtime, they would al ow me to do organic synthesis in the labs on my own! Because of these interests, Mr. Armishaw, our Headmaster, wrote a letter that got me into Leeds University, but started off "Craig Jordan, is an unusual young man, A VERY UNUSUAL YOUNG MAN." Leeds University, in the Department of Pharmacology, was a wonderful place and opened al of the doors for my subsequent career. The education prepared me for the opportunity to turn a failed contraceptive, ICI 46,474, into the drug now known as tamoxifen, a pioneering breast cancer therapy and preventive. The drug cal ed raloxifene (Evista)is used around the world for prevention of osteoporosis, and in America, it is also used to reduce the incidence of breast cancer in women at high risk. This drug was developed from my laboratory studies on the compound when it was only a failed breast I received a commission in the infantry at Leeds University Officer Training Corps, but during my PhD at Leeds University, I got talent spotted by the Intel igence Corps, to be a Technical Intel igence Staff Officer, should the Russians come over the border during the 1970s. My speciality was Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Warfare, or Weapons of Mass Destruction as they are cal ed today. I was attached to the U.S. Army in the U.S. doing the same thing and the Ministry of Defence got me trained by the Americans as a Narcotics officer. I used this experience to train British Drugs Squad officers at Bishopgarth near Wakefield when I was a Lecturer in Pharmacology at Leeds University (1974-1979). I was subsequently talent spotted by the Special Air Service to do other stuff! I was thril ed last year when General Sir Michael Rose nominated me for the SAS Regimental Association.
Academical y, I set up breast cancer research units in Switzerland (1979- 1980), University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center (1980-1993), the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center Northwestern University, Chicago (1993-2004), been Vice President and Research Director at Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia (2004-2009), and currently, I am the Scientific Director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
I've held the rank of Professor in Pharmacology and Human Oncology at the University of Wisconsin (1985-1993), the Diana Princess of Wales Professor of Cancer Research at Northwestern University (1999-2004), Alfred G.
Knudson Chair of Cancer Research at Fox Chase Cancer Center (2004- 2009), and 2009-Present, the Vincent. T. Lombardi Chair of Translational Cancer Research, Georgetown University.
My work on breast cancer treatment has been recognized with awards including the American Cancer Society Medal of Honor, Officer of the Most Excel ent Order of the British Empire, the David A. Karnofsky Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Jephcott Medal from the Royal Society of Medicine, the Sosnovsky Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry, and an Honorary Doctor of Medicine from the University of Leeds.
Recently, I was simultaneously elected as an Honorary Fel ow of the Royal Society of Medicine, a Fel ow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Fel ow of the Institute of Biology, Honorary Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences Moseley Hal Grammar School and its influential teachers gave me a great start. They put me on the right path after a shaky start when I wanted to do what I wanted and not what they wanted. Mr. Thompson's (the history master) words stil echo in my ears during one of my rebel ious moments in the Lower Sixth: "Nothing wil ever come of you, Jordan!" The good thing about the experiences at Moseley Hal , was that teachers created boundaries and opportunities. This taught us discipline, and in my case, I had learned that one's career was not a right, but was something to be pursued vigorously.

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