STRAYS

About the Book

Mat’s plan, obtain a PhD, the union card needed to do research, find a cure for cancer, then humbly accept his Nobel Prize. However, circumstances profoundly influenced this plan. After losing his funding in cancer research as a result of political infighting, Mat took a position in the blossoming field of toxicology, an outgrowth of the fears surrounding synthetic chemicals. Although successful in this area, Mat found it difficult to accept that synthetic chemicals or pharmaceuticals were responsible for most human cancers and birth defects. Along the way, he became involved with reproductive and other health problems in dogs and other domestic animals. Determining the cause of these problems led to difficulties with the powers-that-be and loss of his job.

About the Author

Thomas A. Marks, a native of Fairfield, Connecticut, now resides with his wife Deborah in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Connecticut (BA in chemistry and MS in biochemistry) and SUNY at Buffalo (PhD in pharmacology). Tom was a staff fellow with the National Heart and Lung Institute and held positions at three contract research organizations before spending eighteen years with the Upjohn Co. in Kalamazoo, Michigan. There, he headed a group employing rats and rabbits to determine if pharmaceuticals caused birth defects or affected reproductive performance. Tom closed out his career as a toxicologist with AstraZeneca in Wilmington, Delaware.