Jim Allison: Breakthrough

Jim Allison: Breakthrough is the story of one warmhearted, stubborn man’s visionary quest to find a cure for cancer. Today, pioneering immunologist Jim Allison is a name to be reckoned with throughout the scientific world. Allison won the 2018 Nobel Prize for discovering the immune system’s role in defeating cancer, but for decades he waged a lonely struggle against the skepticism of the medical establishment and the resistance of Big Pharma. Sometimes affectionately referred to as “the Texas T cell mechanic,” Allison’s singular focus on the T cell and its central role in harnessing the power of the immune system initiated a series of discoveries on T cells’ ability to stop cancer in its tracks. When he began his work, immunology was not considered a true science by academicians and traditionalists. Colleagues who respected his intentions thought he was wasting his time. Nonetheless, he followed his star, never forgetting the suffering of his mother, who died of lymphoma when he was eleven years old. Jim Allison: Breakthrough traces his remarkable life from small town Texas boyhood to blazing a trail that would save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.