lives of [ CON S EQUENCE ]
Courage, Commitment and Hope: Q&A with Dr. Craig L. Slingluff, Jr.
Craig L. Slingluff, Jr., MD (Norfolk Academy Class of 1976) is Joseph Helms Farrow Professor of Surgery, Vice Chair for Research, and Director of the Human Immune Therapy Center at the University of Virginia. He is a true humanitarian—known as much for his compassionate care of cancer patients as for his tenacious commitment to finding them a cure. The Human Immune Therapy Center operates within the University of Virginia Cancer Center to provide treatment and hope for cancer patients through the clinical use of the newest immune therapies and through ongoing laboratory research on how the immune system can be activated to fight the war on cancer. Dr. Slingluff leads a multi-disciplinary team that several years ago pioneered the development of a vaccine to help fight melanoma. Dr. Slingluff sees melanoma patients one day a week, performs surgery one day a week, and directs clinical and laboratory research that involves other faculty and staff of the Cancer Center, residents, post-doctoral candidates, microbiologists, chemists and even undergraduate students. He recently submitted a multi-million dollar grant request through the National Institute of Health to gain funding for the next phases of his research. While I privately questioned how Dr. Slingluff has free time for such passions as poetry and windsurfing, he wondered aloud why anyone would want to write about him and his professional achievements. And so with the generosity, patience and humility of a great teacher, he set aside time to provide an update for the Academy.
Dr. Craig L. Slingluff, Jr. (left) graduated from Norfolk Academy in 1976. He earned an Honor Award Scholarship and was an Echols Scholar at the University of Virginia, where he was a three-year member of the wrestling team and Chairman of the Honor Committee. He completed medical school at UVA, residency at Duke University, and returned to UVA in 1991. He is married to Kristin Swenson, a biblical scholar who recently published Bible Babel (Harper; 2010) and is currently writing her third book. Dr. Slingluff is the brother of Molly Slingluff Ill ’78 and the proud uncle of Emmy Ill ’06 and Hannah Ill ’08. He is grateful in all things to his mother, Emily Hunter Slingluff, and his late father, Craig L. Slingluff, who was a longtime member of the Norfolk Academy Board of Trustees.
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