Herb Geller (1945-2023): Top scientist and AnCan patient advocate dies from advanced prostate cancer
(Editor’s note: Last week, I wrote an obituary for the “Voice of Irish Doom,” George McAndrews, JD, a Chicago attorney who won a landmark lawsuit against the American Medical Association, the so-called “Voice of American Medicine.” George, the subject of a book I wrote in 2020 [“Contain and Eliminate: The AMA’s Conspiracy to Destroy Chiropractic”], died from a combination of late-stage prostate cancer and lung cancer. The latter apparently resulted from his exposure to radiation as he witnessed the first airborne explosion of a hydrogen bomb in the Bikini Atoll in the 1950s.
(At the same time I was writing about George, I was thinking about Herb Geller, PhD, a friend from the AnCan Foundation, which supports many of us on prostate cancer. At the time, Herb was hospitalized at the National Institutes of Health in rapidly deteriorating health.)
Herb Geller,, PhD, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, director of a neurobiology lab at the National Institutes of Health, died Sunday from metastatic prostate cancer on Sunday April 16. He was 78.
Rick Davis, founder of the AnCan Foundation, announced the death of his close friend, Herb.
(Herb Geller, PhD.)
Rick said: The loss of dear Herb z"l is already reverberating around AnCan and will undoubtedly amplify as more learn of his demise. Herb touched many well beyond his Advanced Prostate Cancer 'Brains Trust,’ Moderators, Peers and Participants. The Blood Cancer group got to know him well when he attended regularly on behalf of his brother. The Pancreatic Cancer folks met him when he showed up for his next-door neighbor. Our Men Speaking Freely Group loved and respected him for sharing his fears and concerns. Members of our Advisory Board got to interact with Herb as did Medical Academics and others who participated in AnCan's research projects.”
Herb also was involved with the Virtual Group on Active Surveillance, made up of those of us with low-grade prostate cancer. That’s how I got to know Herb, a warm and kind person and an advocate for those of us with prostate cancer and also for science.
Herb’s experience with prostate cancer was far different from those of us with low-risk disease.
He had encountered the snarling tiger of prostate cancer, a ferocious, deadly cancer, while we patients with low-risk disease have coped with the sleeping lion, a peaceful cancer that doesn’t generally spread or kill. But Herb learned a bit about us low-risk patients and lent his expertise as a researcher and scientist as he joined in and led research on patients on AS.
Herb had a great deal to offer us as he ran his own neurobiology lab at the National Institutes of Health,
In recent years, I worked with Herb on a couple of AnCan research projects focused on men on Active Surveillance.
Most recently, we collaborated with others on a survey of more than 450 men on active surveillance, asking their views about such issues as coping with anxiety and whether they would continue active surveillance if Gleason 6 were redefined as a noncancer.
Herb was a bit cautious about AS. Not surprising. He lived with a different aggressive form of prostate cancer than do AS patients. Our issues in AS-land were far different from Herb’s personal issues.
As a matter of caution, he told me he personally opposed changing Gleason 6’s status to a noncancer because he feared patients would give up surveillance and put their lives at risk. Urologists are split on this idea, too, while the vast majority of pathologists oppose any change.
I sensed Herb was skeptical about AS. He knew firsthand the horrors of advanced prostate cancer and didn’t quite trust this beast.
We disagreed about whether Gleason 6 should be redefined as a noncancer. AnCan conducted an actual debate on this issue featuring Dr. Scott Eggener, a top urologist at the University of Chicago, a leading proponent of dropping the cancer designation from Gleason 6m and Dr. Ming Zhou, chief of pathology at Tufts, who opposed the change.
Herb supported Ming’s position. Herb was stunned the day after the debate, when Ming informed me he was switching teams and was supporting the changed noncancer status for Gleason 6. (He has been true to his word.)
I have been an advocate for eliminating the cancer designation to reduce emotional distress and financial toxicity.
Still, Herb had an open mind—let the numbers fall where they may-- and freely gave of his time and expertise as a patient, an advocate, and a scientist. We and others collaborated on the questionnaire. A group of patients and prostate experts worked together on the findings while Herb, the scientist, was the main man on the science who assured statistical significance.
I learned from Herb that research goes beyond hard numbers and needs to tell a compelling and coherent story. He guarded research data like an editor of a newspaper guards an investigative story until the time was right to publish. Herb didn’t want to get scooped.
The survey was accepted to be presented as a poster at the American Society for Clinical Oncology meeting in San Francisco in February. Herb had hoped to attend the meeting in person to “hang the poster.” His health did not allow this. Rick Davis did the honors in Herb’s place.
Herb explained that posters at scientific meetings were learning sessions where researchers heard from critics what they did right and wrong. This ultimate goal was to develop a high-quality scientific paper.He was a master of this process, and his skills and knowledge will be missed.
I presented our findings virtually to a related meeting of top prostate experts attending ASCO. I also wrote a column in MedPage Today about our results.
The study lives on. A researcher from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which considers prostate cancer a major public health issue, heard my three-minute presentation. She wants to do a follow-up study. We are working to “re-field” the study to reach a more diverse population. In my mind, this will be a tribute to Herb.
On the morning of April 13, I got an empty email from Herb. I’ll never know what was on his mind. I can only speculate that maybe he had some ideas for further research.
I wrote him and offered any assistance I could. I knew he was in hospice.
I heard back from his wife Nancy, who said: “herb is rather ill and was saying he wanted to die at about that time. i dont know why he sent the empty email.
“this morning he was more cheerful, but I’m afraid the end is near. pain is controlled. i am trying to function.
Nancy”
Herb died three days later.
Rick said: “Herb passed away from advanced prostate cancer that had evidently morphed into small cell neuroendocrine-like (NEC) disease. A late diagnosis just one day before he entered the NIH, his place of work, identified this. Herb was scheduled to undergo tests for his highly elevated endocrine markers. However, the source was now evident on admission. The NIH never appeared to acknowledge or treat him for this diagnosis.”
Rick and the AnCan crew did what we could to support Herb in his final days. I know that Rick did a lot. We pulled together like a family, an extended support group.
I played a small part. Rick asked me to enlist world-renowned pathologist Jonathan Epstein of Johns Hopkins, which I did with Herb’s consent.
About Herb, Rick added: “Never one to give up the opportunity to sail anything from a small dinghy to an ocean-going yacht, Dr. Herb Geller was a nationally recognized expert in neuro-biology … Herbie loved a good Scotch, in Skye or anywhere else. On his request, AnCan did its best to sneak in a wee dram just to wet his lip in the final days, but the 'powers that be' prevented us. I'll have one for you tonight, Herb! And, we'll make sure both your AnCan posters get written up for submission with credit to you.”
I don’t drink. But if I did, I’d raise a cup along with Rick. And, yes, Herb’s work will continue. He will be missed.
ASPI premiers next episode of Active Surveillance 101
Active Surveillance Patients International (ASPI) will premiere the latest episode of the Active Surveillance 101 video series: "Second Opinions and Biopsies," featuring our intrepid researchers, PCa patient Larry White and his savvy wife Nancy White, interviewing uropathology legend Jonathan Epstein, MD, of Johns Hopkins.
The event takes place at 12 p.m. Eastern on April 29, 2023. Register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYtdeqsrDorGt0ujT6Ifo0Jx0FU30yoAt3L
This program is not to be missed. I'm serious--it’s that good.
After the video, ASPI Board Members will mingle with attendees and respond to questions.
Co-sponsors of the AS 101 series under the Active Surveillance Coalition include AnCan Foundation, Prostate Cancer Support Canada, Prostate Cancer Research Institute, and TheActiveSurveillor.com newsletter.
To view the full AS 101 series to date, covering PSAs, diagnosis, and Active Surveillance, go to https://aspatients.org/a-s-101/https://aspatients.org/a-s-101/
An anonymous reader said:
"Herb was a wonderful human. This saddens me greatly even though I only knew him via zoom. His presence and presents thru his knowledge and delivery will be greatly missed by all on these calls."