Jim Allison: Breakthrough

• Fred Vigeant
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  Fred Vigeant is WITF's Director of Programming and Promotions for TV and Radio. Fred manages the schedules for our radio and television platforms. He also analyzes audience research and manages the public affairs program Smart Talk. Previously, Fred was at WRVO in Oswego, NY for 12 years serving in various roles including Program Director and before that Operations Manager. Fred graduated from the State University of New York College at Oswego with a B.A. in Mass Communications and Broadcasting.

Jim Allison

The story of one warmhearted, stubborn man’s visionary quest to find a cure for cancer, Jim Allison: Breakthrough from filmmaker Bill Haney is an homage to an unconventional superhero — a pioneering, harmonica-playing scientist who triumphed over a doubtful medical establishment to save innumerable lives around the world. In 2018, Jim Allison won the Nobel Prize for discovering the immune system’s role in defeating cancer, but his lengthy journey to get there was filled with barriers and criticism.

With the help of narrator Woody Harrelson, Haney spotlights the perseverance of Allison starting with his days as a young, curious boy growing up in Texas whose life is shattered when he loses his mother to cancer. He grows into a headstrong, shaggy-haired, music-loving college student fascinated by immunotherapy, and he starts on a path to find a cure for the disease that so profoundly impacted his life. His research leads him to the discovery of the T-cell receptor, and its role in fighting cancer.

Jim Allison: Breakthrough chronicles a hero’s triumph over incessant skepticism and resistance from the powerful pharmaceutical companies and the medical establishment. Featuring interviews with family, Allison’s colleagues and past students, immunology experts, and patients, the film paints a colorful portrait of Allison; not just of a strong-willed and passionate
scientist, but a humble man, a talented musician and dedicated Willie Nelson fan who just wanted to do some good in the world. Haney expertly interweaves Allison’s personal story with the medical case of Sharon Belvin, a patient diagnosed with melanoma who enrolled in Allison’s trials in 2006. Since then, she has been entirely cancer-free.

Watch Jim Allison: Breakthrough on Independent Lens on WITF Monday April 27 at 10:00pm. Independent Lens is also available through the PBS Video app.

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