Chris Cramer

114 Followers
62 Following
185 Posts
Senior Vice President and Chief Research Officer, UL Research Institutes | Ivory tower ex-pat | Safety First
ORCIDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5048-1859
ULRI webpagehttps://ul.org/about?id=christopherjcramer

I lost my Mom to pancreatic cancer when I was 19. She was only 47.

My grandmother also died from it at 53.

When Mom was diagnosed, she sat me down and said she knew exactly what I was feeling because she felt the same way when her Mom was dying.

She said she hated knowing that her girls were going to grow up without a mom.

She wasn’t afraid of dying, but she was afraid of leaving us behind.

She was sad that she would miss major milestones like graduations, marriage, grandchildren etc.

She wanted more time.

Unfortunately pancreatic cancer is quick and lethal.

It’s almost always caught too late, and few people live more than a year after diagnosis.

My Mom made it nine months.

I’m forever grateful for the time we had together and the fact that she prepared me for her passing. But I wanted more

The mRNA pancreatic cancer vaccine was a beacon of hope for my family.

It was hope for so many whose lives have been touched by this deadly disease. Who’ve lost loved ones.

Who live with the fear of being diagnosed themselves.

There’s no words for the rage I feel when I think about RFK Jr’s decision to cut funding for this life saving research.

His anti-vaxx grift has already killed and disabled many people. Measles is back. Covid is still here and still killing.

Now he’s basically siding with cancer.

We deserve better than this.

We deserve an HHS leader who actually believes in science.

We deserve leaders who promote life saving interventions, robust public health and cutting edge research.

Shame on him and everyone who supports him.

#uspol #rfkjr #pancreaticcancer #mRNA #vaccines #science

@DrFerrous I’m mostly on Bluesky these days, but drop by Mastodon from time to time to see what’s new with those who preferred to stay. Doing my best to keep all the balls in the air, as ever…
@DrFerrous
ah, but the special satisfaction of those days when one bests the bot by 2 (or more!) guesses…
@chemjobber
Great Scott, is it really 2025 coming up???
...aaaaaaand, JACS!!!
(now that I've ramped down to a tiny handful of papers per year, the sweetness IS a bit more acute  😎 )
Not sure how this 5” beauty got to the 23rd floor, but Stella is frantically indicating that she would happily go through the glass to challenge her to mortal combat! #MantisesOfMastodon
Having been an administrator for years now, it's been forever since I've opened ChemDraw. I can remove it from my dock, now, right? #SoHard #SoHard 😬
@failedLyndonLaRouchite
I did not, because our library was so good that I never found the need to ask for anything, but heaven knows I RECEIVED a lot of them -- mostly from outside the US, where libraries were presumably less comprehensive. (Of course, I recognized the potential SOCIAL benefit of sending such postcards -- I just never pulled that trigger :-) )

Pondering my age after having responded to a reprint request. 🧙‍♂️

As a new asst prof in '92 👨‍🎓 , I had small gray cards printed that I put into an envelope with the paper saying "It is a pleasure to provide you with the reprint that you have requested."

Now I still use those same words, but I type them into the Research Gate response box -- plus ça change... 😎

A LinkedIn reflection on what I hoped to bring to UL Research Institutes when I put myself forward as a candidate for Chief Research Officer 3 years ago...
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/judging-consistency-your-leadership-christopher-cramer/
Judging the Consistency of Your Leadership

After some time in a new job — and especially one charged with significant leadership responsibilities — it can be an interesting exercise to look back at the cover letter that you used to apply, and then assess whether you've lived up to what you promised. It's been almost 3 years since, after havi