Six years ago, Mark Mone, PhD, walked into the emergency room with what he assumed was a stubborn side ache. Instead, doctors found a mass on his spleen.

The diagnosis—diffuse large B-cell lymphoma—came without warning. Within weeks, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) Chancellor Emeritus underwent surgery and began treatment at the MCW Cancer Center. Looking back, he knows how differently the story could have ended.

“If I had not gone to that ER, I would’ve shrugged it off because I had gotten through the pain. I would’ve been blindly happy, and that cancer would’ve spread big time,” said Mark Mone, PhD.

Months later, after chemotherapy, he was beginning to reclaim life. A hike meant to celebrate recovery took an unexpected turn when he slipped, broke both bones in his wrist, and returned to the emergency room. During his evaluation, doctors discovered thyroid cancer.

Two cancer diagnoses in less than a year changed Dr. Mone’s life in ways he never expected.

As he reflected on his own experience, he found himself thinking less about what cancer had taken from him and more about what had made his recovery possible. Behind every diagnosis, every treatment, and every advance was years of scientific discovery, and the people who dedicated their lives to asking difficult questions.

During his tenure as UWM Chancellor, Dr. Mone realized he had an opportunity to help shape the future of cancer research, not in the laboratory, but by investing in the people who would one day lead it. Alongside dedicated staff at UWM and MCW, he helped create a pathway enabling more of the research that saved his own life and will save the lives of countless others in the years to come.

The Generation That Will Solve Cancer

When Dr. Mone connected with MCW Cancer Center Director Gustavo Leone, PhD, the two shared a common belief: solving cancer depends on investing in the people who will one day solve it.

Alongside staff at both institutions, they launched the UWM Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP), creating a pathway for undergraduate students to step into cancer research years earlier than they otherwise could. Rather than waiting for graduate or medical school, students spend a full year immersed in research at the MCW Cancer Center, working one-on-one with faculty mentors, learning to think like scientists and contributing to discoveries that move the field forward.

The experience extends well beyond the laboratory. Students develop research proposals, attend scientific conferences, present their work at symposia, and build the technical skills and scientific curiosity that serve as the foundation for careers in research and medicine.

“One of the most effective high-impact practices is engaging students in research,” said Dr. Mone. “They get faculty mentoring, a one-on-one relationship they otherwise wouldn't have. It also, I believe, hooks students into understanding what research is.”

Since launching in 2023, UREP has supported 35 undergraduate researchers. Alumni have gone on to medical school, pharmacy school, graduate programs, careers as scientists and educators, and have contributed to publications in high-impact scientific journals. For Dr. Mone, those outcomes are about much more than career success.

“If you look at and understand the work of these students and their faculty mentors,” Dr. Mone said, “this is the generation that will solve the cancer challenge.”

The Angels Ahead of Us

Long before cancer became part of his own story, Dr. Mone watched his sister face myosarcoma with remarkable optimism, living years longer than doctors originally expected. Her resilience stayed with him long before cancer became part of his own life.

When he received his own diagnosis, he found himself surrounded by that same strength. His wife, Sara Swanson, PhD, their two children, colleagues, friends, and even strangers rallied around him. Letters arrived from people he had never met, sharing stories of survival. Fellow survivors offered perspective and reassurance through an experience few people truly understand.

Dr. Mone calls them “the angels ahead of me.” Today, he tries to be one of those angels for others, reaching out whenever he learns someone has been diagnosed with cancer.

That same perspective continues to shape his legacy. Through UREP, Dr. Mone is investing in the scientists who will carry cancer research forward. Every student who walks into an MCW Cancer Center laboratory represents another curious mind ready to tackle one of medicine’s greatest challenges.

“Cancer gives you a focus, an urgency, an appreciation for life that, until you have that mortality at the tip of your nose, until you're looking at it, you just can’t appreciate it,” said Dr. Mone. “I believe I’ll feel for the rest of my life that cancer made me better because it made me appreciate what’s important.”