"Amgen Origins" is a series focused on highlighting the origin stories behind innovations large and small across Amgen. *** Dr. John Glaspy has walked these hallways many times over the course of many years. The medical oncologist saw patients, met the families and friends providing support to the patients – mostly with leukemia – and he’s incredibly proud of the doctors and nurses who are bringing the fight to cancer with everything they’ve got every single day. But when he would enter this particular quadrant of the Ronald Reagan @UCLAHealth Regional Medical Center, Glaspy always noticed the plaque on the side wall next to the reception window: In Memory of Ms. Dora Menchaca. Menchaca was a director of clinical research at Amgen with a focus on cancer – a drive that sprung from her own father’s diagnosis with prostate cancer. She had been a good friend and scientific collaborator of Glaspy for several years. Glaspy’s mind would then go back to Sept. 11, 2001 – the day the United States was attacked by terrorists. Before the day was done, four passenger planes had all been felled and left thousands dead in New York, Washington DC and Shanksville, Pennsylvania and a nation numb. Glaspy knew Menchaca was in the nation’s capital briefing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on some cancer research the day before the attacks. But didn’t know a fateful decision she had made to take an earlier flight on the morning of Sept. 11 would mean neither he nor her family would never see her again. Glaspy couldn’t reach her on his phone all morning as he watched the shocking images on television. He spoke with mutual friends, who didn’t know her fate either. Eventually, however, the call came. The news he didn’t want to hear was heard. Menchaca was gone. “I cried,” he said. Tap the link in our bio to learn how Glaspy, in collaboration with Amgen, worked to honor Menchaca with an area of 26 private rooms for cancer patients which he says not only reflects Dora's commitment to scientific excellence but her commitment to patients and their families. #September11 #September11th #Sept11