Marina SymcoxMarina Symcox, PhD is a cancer survivor and cofounder of the patient support group GIST Support International (www.gistsupport.org). She received her doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Oklahoma, where she also studied mutant protein kinses in her post-graduate research. In 1997, she was diagnosed with advanced terminal Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor. After spending months in hospice during 2000 and coming close to death, she became one of the first GIST patients to be treated in a clinical trial with the investigational drug "STI-571," now known as the breakthrough drug Gleevec. Having a remarkable recovery on Gleevec, Marina lives near Tulsa, Oklahoma with her husband and children, and works as a part-time laboratory instructor at the University of Tulsa. Read More Read Less