Page 23 - Alumni Horae: Vol. 94, No. 1 Fall 2013

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is a cancer originating in white blood cells in the lymph
nodes. A critical organ in the immune system, lymph
nodes help filter foreign particles and ward off infections.
As a medical student, Schreiber had been taught that
some cancers are much worse than others. His odds were
relatively good – the five-year survival rate for Stage III
Hodgkin’s is about 80 percent. Nevertheless, it was im-
possible not to wonder if he could be in the other 20 per-
cent. “It was terrifying,” he says. He resolved immediately
to fight “with guns blazing.”
The following Wednesday, doctors installed a chemo-
therapy port – a catheter connecting the surface of his
chest to his jugular vein and heart. Schreiber and his
physicians decided on a highly toxic regimen of chemo
that would attack his cancer most aggressively.
That very weekend, Schreiber attended the wedding of
formmate JP Berkery ’98, in Jupiter Island, Fla. Surrounded
by SPS friends, Schreiber kept his diagnosis a secret over
the weekend, not wanting to detract from the celebration.
“It really showed what an incredibly selfless person Taylor
is,” says Berkery.
The following Tuesday, Schreiber began a grinding
six-month routine of of chemotherapy. Within a few
weeks, the 31-year-old began to lose his hair. His T-cell
count plummeted, compromising his immune system.
To protect against infection, he wore a face mask every
time he went outside.
Schreiber’s groundbreaking research focused on
helping the body’s immune system fight against cancer.
Now he had cancer in his own immune system’s central
organ, and the chemo regimen further compromised
that immune system.
Schreiber received tremendous support from family
and friends. Nicki, his parents, and a revolving cast of
close friends would sit with him as he received his treat-
ment. A steady stream of notes and care packages came
from friends around the country.
After two months, on June 3, 2011, a PET scan showed
that Schreiber was responding to chemotherapy. He and
Nicki were thrilled, but knew they had another four months
to go before they could be confident that all was well.
“Every time you go into a doctor’s office for one of these
scans,” Schreiber recalls, “you re-experience the horror
that something is going to show up.”
Despite the fatigue and other side effects of chemo,
Schreiber continued his research in the lab as best he
could. “From the beginning, I was determined that with
whatever amount of time I had left, I was going to make
the most of it,” he says. “Sitting at home and letting myself
just be a cancer patient was going to be detrimental to my
mental health.”
Schreiber managed to take on an even greater role
within Heat. In between chemo sessions, he traveled to
California alongside Wolf to meet with a major biotech
company. With a hairless head and no eyebrows, Schreiber
presented the company’s science to a rapt audience.
After six months of chemotherapy, in early October
2011, Schreiber underwent a final PET scan and other
tests showing that he was in complete remission.
Now two years removed from that news, Schreiber
says that experiencing cancer and chemotherapy as a
patient has informed his work in two ways. “Learning
to be a patient is something that every doctor would
benefit from going through,” he says.
Experiencing chemotherapy also reinforced Schreiber’s
interest in immunotherapy, studying less toxic alterna-
tives to chemo. “On the science side, I never lacked for
motivation,” he says. “But 10, 20, 30 years from now, I
really hope we’ll have therapeutic choices for cancer
which extend well beyond chemo.”
Upon formal completion of his M.D. in early 2014,
Schreiber plans to join Heat Biologics full time to lead
their scientific team, reporting to CEO Jeff Wolf.
“Taylor is a really special individual, someone with an
incredible mind and an incredible heart as well,” says Wolf.
Schreiber has also worked closely with fellow SPS
alumni Ed Smith ’93 and Josiah Hornblower ’94, early
investors in Heat. They created a sister company, spun
off to Heat shareholders, to commercialize more of
Schreiber’s discoveries. In a nod to their SPS roots, they
named the company Pelican Therapeutics.
Like many of Schreiber’s friends and colleagues,
Hornblower describes him with profound admiration.
“Taylor is not only one of my truest friends, but also
my hero,” he says. “He is indefatigable and braver than
anyone I know.”
In July 2013, the three Paulies joined Wolf and Podack
to ring the Nasdaq’s closing bell on the day of Heat’s IPO.
Meanwhile, Taylor and Nicki
Schreiber learned that they
would soon welcome the
birth of a baby boy. Pierce
Vincent Schreiber arrived
on September 15, 2013.
Taylor and Nicki Schreiber