UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center Magazine Spring 2016 | Page 10

center profile
To say that Mansoor Saleh, M.D., has led an

interesting life is something of an understatement.

profession of your choice,” he says. “The state literally

heritage and brought up in British East Africa,

needed 20 physicians, and you were number 22 on

Born on the Af rican island of Zanzibar of Asian

Dr. Saleh’s early life is interwoven with Africa’s

own chaotic history and profoundly impacted by
an unusual arrangement between his father and
grandfather.

Birmingham
was a very
quiet, peaceful
place. I felt that
UAB was very
cosmopolitan
and inviting, and
that Birmingham
was a good place
to raise a family.”

Zanzibar. I was the firstborn, and although I have

a younger brother and two sisters, I was essentially
brought up as an only child by my grandparents in

to Canada as possible, yet still in America, and my

completely left UAB, however, maintaining his faculty

says. “So I thought where do you go that’s as close
options were either Detroit or Buffalo.”

Dr. Saleh ultimately chose Detroit, and it was a

trials at the community-practice level. He never

appointment and returning to the Cancer Center once
a week for the next 16 years to continue his research

Dr. Saleh had been interested in medicine since

was there that he met UAB Comprehensive Cancer

when Cancer Center director Edward Partridge,

who was working at the University of Michigan at the

UAB’s Phase I Program (see cover story). Because of

had no choice. It was too big a risk.”

inspired by his uncle, an ENT specialist and surgeon
when you trained, you get the degree initials after

your name, and my uncle had about 12 letters after his
name,” Dr. Saleh recalls. “When I came to visit him

for my asthma shots, I would see all those impressive
letters and say that’s what I want to be – someone

life and ultimately shape his career going forward. It
Center director emeritus Albert LoBuglio, M.D.,

time. He heard Dr. LoBuglio give a lecture on using
monoclonal antibodies as a “magic bullet” approach
to treating cancer. “That triggered my interest in

immunotherapy and attracted me to oncology,” Dr.
Saleh says.

When Dr. LoBuglio left Michigan to become

and chair the center’s Protocol Review Committee.
The decision to return to UAB full-time came

M.D., was searching for someone to take the reins of
his experience, Dr. Saleh was a natural choice. “I felt

I had learned the business side of medicine at Georgia
Cancer Specialists and this was a great opportunity to

come back where it all started,” Dr. Saleh says. “That’s
what brought me back to UAB full-time.”

remains, and my

the UAB Cancer Center director in 1983, Dr. Saleh

Realizing a Dream

originally colonized by Germany until World War I,

to Germany, where he studied at the University of

South was something of a culture shock, but Dr.

and clinical investigation, Dr. Saleh still has a passion

in 1961. The Sultan’s government in Zanzibar was

Saleh’s father was friends with Dr. Max Mohl, a

Birmingham was a very quiet, peaceful place. I felt

my commitment to my patients remains,” he says.

Then came the revolution. Tanganyika was

followed by British rule until gaining independence

overthrown during the Zanzibar Revolution in 1964.
A period of extreme violence ensued, and Dr. Saleh
and his grandfather – a high-ranking administrator
in the Sultan’s government – were briefly detained
in a prison. “It was awful not knowing what

was happening to your family,” he recalls. “My

experience at that young age gives me a keen sense of

The revolution brought about a major change

for Dr. Saleh as he went to Dares Salaam, on the

mainland, to be reunited with his parents and siblings

The pursuit of those many letters led Dr. Saleh

Heidelberg, thanks to a friend of his father’s. Dr.

German economist and author, and his wife Irene,
a professor of Russian languages at the University

of Heidelberg, who shared the elder Saleh’s love of

a very different culture,” he recalls. “I spent the first
year learning the language before entering medical
school. The Mohls became parents to me.”

training, he looked westward.

C E N T E R

While he was in medical school, Dr. Saleh’s

time to choose an institution for his post-graduate
“I wanted to be close to my parents, but I felt

edge in the field of immunotherapy. That is where I
acquired my skills as a translational researcher and
learned about first-in-human clinical trials.” He

quickly rose through the ranks at the Cancer Center,

eventually serving as associate director for the clinical
trials network.

In 1999, however, a new challenge arose for Dr.

Saleh. He had the opportunity to join the staff at

Georgia Cancer Specialists in Atlanta as the group’s
director for research development. While at GCS,

Dr. Saleh and his team built a phase I program, one

Research has

has not changed.

expectation I have on myself and my team,” he says.

barrier that I knew no German and had to adapt to

“Today everyone speaks of targeted cancer therapy.

remains.

keeps coming back.”

We have new tools to fight the cancer, but the enemy

At that time, the LoBuglio team was at the cutting

to Europe. “I was young and didn’t consider it a

internationally recognized, pioneering team in

to my patients

advanced, but my

patients. “The care you give to the patient is the care

had become extremely socialistic, which would play a

C A N C E R

For the next decade, Dr. Saleh would work

commitment

not changed. Cancer still exists. Patients are there.

targeted immunotherapy of cancer. Dr. Saleh says:

parents had immigrated to Toronto. So when it was

C O M P R E H E N S I V E

that Birmingham was a good place to raise a family.”

“Research has advanced, but my inquisitiveness has

education, so in 1972 he made the move from Africa

the younger Saleh come to Germany for his medical

and later went to live with an aunt and uncle to finish

key role in Dr. Saleh’s future.

that UAB was very cosmopolitan and inviting, and

for his work. “My passion for science remains, and

closely with Dr. LoBuglio in what became an

Coming to America

high school in Nairobi, Kenya. At the time, Tanzania

Saleh felt quickly at home. “Compared to Detroit,

After a career of 30-plus years in cancer research

African ebony sculptures. Dr. Mohl offered to have

in what would eventually become the present-day

nation of Tanzania. He enrolled in a boarding school

followed shortly thereafter. Coming to the Deep

“My passion
for science

with many letters after his name!”

Zanzibar until I was 11 years old.”

immigrants.”

U A B

of the few in the country conducting first-in-human

decision that would impact the next 30 years of his

who studied and trained in Scotland. “In the UK

first child would be sent back to live with them in

the United States had the better medical system,” he

becoming – a farmer, an accountant, whatever. You

Tanganyika (or British East Africa) on the mainland,

appreciation and empathy for the plight of displaced

16

the list, you had to become whatever number 22 was

suffering asthma as a child. He was particularly

he consoled my grandparents by promising that his

to Detroit,

dictated what you could do with your life. If the state

“My father was the last of his siblings to marry

and leave home,” Dr. Saleh says. “When he moved to

“Compared

“In Tanzania, you couldn’t be trained in the

Dr. Saleh uses a Golden Rule approach with his

inquisitiveness
Cancer still

you’d expect if you were a patient yourself. That’s the

exists. Patients

“What also drives me is the opportunity to provide

have new tools to

our patients with something they otherwise would not
have access to if it were not for our phase I program.”
Dr. Saleh hopes his efforts and those of

are there. We
fight the cancer,
but the enemy
keeps coming

his colleagues will lead to UAB becoming an

international leader in early drug development

research. “Ultimately, that’s what we can best do for

back.”

the patient, and that should be our goal,” he says. “All

in all, I’m happy to have come back because this is the
realization of my dream.”

# K N O W U A B C C C

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U A B . E D U / C A N C E R

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