The author is a medical scientist who has published 360 papers and chapters, was president of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) in 2012, and won the Distinguished Mentor Award from...ver maisThe author is a medical scientist who has published 360 papers and chapters, was president of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) in 2012, and won the Distinguished Mentor Award from the AGA GI Oncology Section in 2011. In 2015, he was awarded the AGA Beaumont Prize in Gastroenterology, which is given once every three years, and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Collaborative Group of the Americas on Hereditary Colorectal Cancer. Both of these research awards were given for work on the hereditary colorectal cancer syndrome called Lynch Syndrome. Colorectal cancer is one of the most “familial” of the cancers; some is due to environmental influences shared by a family, but about 4 percent of all colorectal cancers can be tied to strong genetic factors. Most of those at risk are unaware of this. The author gives lectures to patient advocacy groups involved in the hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes. Dr. Boland took a leave from his research laboratory in 2014 to write this memoir about his personal involvement in the discovery that Lynch Syndrome was in his family, and formulating the concepts involved in this disease. In 2001, Boland’s lab finally isolated the mutation responsible for the disease in his family and developed a specific genetic test for the disease, which has had a dramatic impact on his family.ver menos