Stories

George Sledge, M.D.

While there’s little doubt that Dr. George Sledge loves his career, his lifelong mission is to end it. “The only way we are going to cure more patients is through more research,” Dr. Sledge says. “My job as a cancer researcher is to put myself out of business. A great day for me will be when I will be able to go in and tell my patient, ‘You don’t need my services anymore.’”

University-based cancer specialists like Sledge are the original biomedical pioneers, bringing new treatments for life-threatening diseases to the forefront of care. And National Cancer Institute-designated centers like the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center are where cures become possible.

Sledge is pictured here celebrating 10 years of survivorship with patient Saundra Vertner. He is the Ballvé-Lantero Professor of Medicine and the co-director of the Breast Cancer Research Program at the IU Simon Cancer Center.