Some episodes are more personal than others. Today's guest is Dr. Leon Platanias, Director, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University. Northwestern happens to be my alma mater, and I first met Leon in early 2014 when he was named interim director of the cancer center.

After graduating Northwestern, I met my late wife Maureen (for whom the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast and road trip are dedicated) at Apple in the late 1980s in Chicago. Steve Jobs once said at a commencement address to Stanford University that you can't connect the dots looking forward. You just have to trust your passion. And when you look back, you'll see how the dots connect. That is definitely the case with how I met Leon. Just months earlier, I had finished the last of three TEDx talks just outside of Dublin, Ireland, having traveled to Malaysia, then Rome, and finally Dublin in under a week.

One of my fellow speakers in Dublin was named president of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in the months to follow. When I came up to Chicago to visit, he had invited Leon to our meeting. I've been blessed by over a decade of friendship with Leon, as well as blessed by his help back in 2014 getting a second opinion from one of Lurie's leading breast cancer oncologists, Dr. William Gradishar. Maureen's breast cancer had metastasized at that point, and I wanted as many perspectives as possible on what to do next for her. You will quickly discover Leon's humble spirit as you listen to this episode. However, as a Northwestern alum, I can't help but brag on all that he has done for Lurie, leading them to the National Cancer Institute's highest rating of exceptional over more than a decade as Lurie's director. Lurie is not only exceptional, but Leon is too. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Who is Leon Platanias?

Leonidas C. Platanias, MD, PhD, leads the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University in Chicago, a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Centers Network (NCCN). He is the Jesse, Sara, Andrew, Abigail, Benjamin and Elizabeth Lurie Professor of Oncology and Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics. Since Dr. Platanias became director in 2014, the Lurie Cancer Center has experienced dramatic growth, doubling its NCI funding and recruiting over 160 new faculty members. Under his leadership, the Lurie Cancer Center received the highest rating in its history, an overall “exceptional” ranking in both the 2018 and 2025 NCI comprehensive designation NCI renewals.

Dr. Platanias was born and raised in Athens, Greece. He earned his medical degree from the University of Patras Medical School in Greece. He subsequently moved to the US and began his research career at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, as a Fogarty Fellow studying the immune mechanisms of bone marrow failure syndromes. He subsequently moved to New York City where he completed his residency in Internal Medicine and eventually to Chicago where he completed his fellowship in Hematology-Oncology at the University of Chicago. He joined Northwestern in 2002, initially as Deputy Director and eventually as Director of the Lurie Cancer Center in 2014. Prior to joining Northwestern, he was Professor and Chief of the Division of Hematology Oncology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Platanias is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology, with clinical expertise in leukemia. Dr. Platanias’ research work focuses on cytokine signaling pathways in malignant cells, with translational applications in leukemia and brain tumors. He has published more than 390 papers with an h-index of 100. In addition to being the principal investigator of the largest institutional grant (CCSG) at Northwestern, he has been principal investigator of multiple NIH R01 grants and has been continuously funded by the NIH for over 30 years. He has made...

As one chapter closes, another one has opened. In Emma's words, "I am honored and overjoyed to have signed with the Indy Ignite Professional Volleyball team for the 2026 season! I am excited to get started and be back home in Indiana!" I am honored to have Emma start the next chapter of the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast as we open Season 2 with her episode, "One Dig. One Touch. One Game at a Time."

Who is Emma Halter?

With the 14th overall pick in the 2nd round of the Major League Volleyball Draft, the Indy Ignite selected Emma Halter. Emma returns to her home state of Indiana to continue her volleyball career professionally after her final season with the Longhorns concluded. She is the second libero picked in the draft and joins former Louisville libero Elena Scott to anchor the back row for the Ignite.

As a driven and motivated volleyball student-athlete, Emma graduated from The McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas. She is dedicated to achieving excellence in every area of her life. While on the court, in the classroom, and as a friend she worked to be collaborative, understanding, and the best leader that she can be. Along with this, being a part of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee gives her the opportunity to display my passions of working with people, taking on community projects, and being as involved in athletics as much as she could. In pursuing her bachelors degree in management, she was, and remains, passionate about helping those around her, growing in any environment that she is put in, and being an encouraging teammate. Being a student athlete on the volleyball team, she became more aware of the idea that the pursuit of excellence is where I thrive the most.

Emma Halter - Her Texas Volleyball Bio

Honors and Awards

2025:

1. Finished as No. 8 on the All-Time Dig List in Texas history
2. AVCA All-American - Honorable Mention
3. AVCA All-Southwest Region Team
4. Texas Record in Digs in 3-set matches (25)
5. No. 8 All-Time UT Carrer Digs
6. All-SEC Second Team
7. SEC Defensive Player of the Week (9/1)

2024:

1. SEC Defensive Player of the Week (9/2)
2. Preseason Volleyball All-SEC Team

2023:

1. NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team

2025:

Played in all 30 matches and all 110 sets during the season... Led Texas on defense at the Opening Spike Classic earning SEC Player and Defensive Player of the Week after totaling 28 digs in two matches against No. 12 Creighton and No. 8 Wisconsin... Registered a career high nine assists and led the team with 18 digs in the win against Rice... Recorded 10 digs and seven assists in the win over Stanford... Notched 17 digs and eight assists in the 3-2 win against No. 4 Louisville... Finished with her first career double-double in...

Welcome to Season Two of the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast. For those that listened to Season One, you may recall the tradition that led to this podcast and my upcoming road trip via Airstream. On the weekend before my wife, Maureen, passed after 11 years with breast cancer, our oncologist prescribed donuts. We dutifully complied with this prescription and with powdered donut in hand, Maureen turned up the air conditioning in the car and the powder of the donut blew everywhere.

Every episode and every guest of Season 2 will give all of us an opportunity to hear about someone's one thing. And it is my hope that each episode and each guest provides an inspiration to all of us to find our one thing to make a difference. The wheels are truly in motion for my upcoming road trip via Airstream starting this fall. More news on that to come. Season Three of the podcast will kick off as I hit the road.

Team Powdered Donut is also thrilled to welcome Entenmann's as a title sponsor of both the podcast and the road trip. As I joked in the inaugural episode of the podcast last season with Maureen Sticco, I had always wanted to meet the "donut people," and I am thrilled and honored by their support. We will be making a more formal announcement of their participation in the weeks to come. For now, welcome back and enjoy Season Two.