Center says farewell to a friend

Science Article
October 2, 2003

Founding scientist James McDougall leaves a legacy of service to the center and fond memories to hundreds who called him a friend

Dr. James McDougall, shown in his research lab in the Cancer Biology Program, helped establish a link between papillomavirus infections and human cancers and was among the first laboratory scientists to join the center. Hundreds paid tribute to him at a center memorial service held Sept. 24. File photo by Clay Eals

By BARBARA BERG

To plaintive strains from a bagpiper, a standing-room only crowd of friends, family and colleagues filed into Pelton Auditorium last week to pay tribute to Dr. James McDougall who died at his home Sept 13, following a months-long battle with gastric cancer.

McDougall, 72, joined the center in 1978 as a founding member of the Basic Sciences Division and later became a member of the Human Biology and Public Health Sciences divisions. He also was a founder of the Cancer Biology Program, serving as its program head from 1991-2000, and was a professor of pathology at the University of Washington.

A highly respected virologist and cancer biologist, McDougall, along with his wife and close colleague Dr. Denise Galloway, also of Human Biology and PHS, made seminal discoveries that established a link between papillomavirus infections and human cancers.

Friends, colleagues and McDougall's daughters spoke at the Sept. 24 memorial service, which was broadcast to capacity crowds in adjacent conference rooms. Dr. Mark Groudine, director of the Basic Sciences Division, described McDougall as a world leader in the study of tumor viruses with a long and productive career.

"At the age of 72, Jim's research was going as strong as ever," he said. "He contributed enormously to the success of this institution."

McDougall and Galloway were the first to identify viral genetic material in tissue sections of cervical tumors, a finding that helped pave the way for an entire field devoted to understanding how viral genes and proteins trigger a normal cell to transform into a cancerous one. In addition to their contributions to the molecular understanding of this process, McDougall and Galloway collaborated closely with epidemiologists in the PHS Division to characterize the viral strains and associated risk factors that lead some individuals to develop cancer while others do not.

More recently, McDougall's lab made a key contribution to the field by demonstrating that a viral protein switches on an enzyme in infected cells known as telomerase, which causes cells to become immortal, one of the hallmarks of cancer cells.

Dr. Janet Daling, an epidemiologist in PHS and a longtime colleague, attributed many of her career accomplishments to collaboration initiated with McDougall in 1979 to investigate the connection between papillomaviruses and anogenital cancers.

"That was the start of a long-lasting friendship and collaboration that led to multiple grants and ultimately, in 1987, our first program project grant, which is now in its 16th year thanks to Jim's leadership," she said. "Although Jim and I came from two very different scientific worlds, we learned from each other and somehow found a common language."

Dr. Chris Kemp, investigator in Human Biology and PHS and associate head of the Cancer Biology Program, described McDougall as a catalyst for interdisciplinary research at the center.

"Jim developed an interactive research program that reached across scientific disciplines long before the value of this kind of approach was appreciated," he said.

Those who shared their memories of McDougall spoke not only of his scientific accomplishments but of his ever-present and "wickedly British" humor, his encouragement and mentorship of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and technicians in his laboratory, his sense of fairness and his love and pride for his family. All spoke of memorable dinners at the McDougall/Galloway home, a regular meeting place for visiting scientists and friends from around the world.

McDougall was a devoted father, coaching the soccer teams of his daughters Jean and Katherine, attending their swim meets and introducing them to Europe on many family trips abroad.

Deep Scottish roots

Born in Buckhaven, Scotland, McDougall maintained a lifelong love of all things Scottish. He and Galloway hosted annual "Burns Night" parties at their Mercer Island home to honor the poet Robert Burns, at which guests were treated to a feast of haggis, the traditional Scottish dish of sheep innards, single-malt Scotch and a glimpse of McDougall dressed in full-scale clan garb, including kilt. A 2002 portrait of McDougall in Scottish attire taken by Dr. Ron Reeder, an emeritus member of the Basic Sciences Division, will go on display in the Weintraub Building.

McDougall was raised in Scotland and southern England, as the family followed the career path of his father, an international soccer player and coach. After serving in the Royal Engineers, surveying the sands of Egypt, McDougall returned to England to play soccer semi-professionally and to conduct research on poliovirus vaccines at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. He received degrees from University College in London and Edinburgh University and his doctorate in cancer studies from the University of Birmingham.

In 1976, McDougall joined Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, where he headed the Cell Biology Laboratory. He and Galloway moved to Seattle in 1978 to join the Basic Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson.

Galloway and their two daughters, Jean and Katherine of Mercer Island, survive McDougall. He also leaves four children from his first marriage, Elizabeth, Barbara, Joanne and Hamish, and their families, and his brother John and his family, all of England.

Contributions may be sent in McDougall's memory to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, J5-200, 1100 Fairview Ave. N, Seattle WA 98109.

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