Remembering
Stanford L. Kurland
Stanford L. Kurland began his professional career in public accounting in 1975 at Grant Thorton, formerly known as Alexander Grant. One of his early assignments was at a mortgage bank called Countrywide Credit Industries and its operating subsidiary Countrywide Acceptance Company. Stan’s skills were quickly observed by Countrywide’s founders and he joined the organization in 1979. It didn’t take long for Stan to help Countrywide change the non-bank mortgage banking industry and over an almost 30-year career at Countrywide, he served as Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, President and Director of the public company.
In 2008, Stan founded and led Pennymac Financial Services, Inc. and Pennymac Mortgage Investment Trust — now considered one of the premiere non-bank mortgage enterprises in America. At Pennymac, Stan was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of two NYSE-listed companies until his retirement at the end of 2019.
In early 2020, Stan was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and began treatment at UCLA in Westwood, California. Stan was fortunate to be in such good care until his passing in January 2021.
Despite the discomfort of radiation and chemotherapy, Stan wanted to figure out a way to help cure an “incurable” disease and lessen the distress of treatment. He was a man of great intention and was always doing what he could to support others.
Please join us in this noble endeavor by giving directly to the UCLA Neuro-Oncology Program at https://giving.ucla.edu/StanfordKurland or by becoming a sponsor of the Third Annual Stanford L Kurland Golf Classic benefiting the UCLA Neuro-Oncology Program.
UCLA Neuro-Oncology Program
Timothy Cloughesy, M.D., Director of the UCLA Neuro-Oncology Program and Professor of Clinical Neurology, and David Nathanson, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the UCLA Ahmanson Translational Imaging Division in the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, continue their efforts to discover innovative drug candidates that will improve the delivery of therapies to malignant glioblastomas (GBMs).
The team’s goal is to conduct preclinical studies of a novel brain-penetrant epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor and evaluate a noninvasive predictive biomarker of response to the EGFR in malignant GBM, leading to a clinical trial.
Their findings to date provide not only a potential novel treatment and companion biomarker for GBM patients, but also sets a new paradigm for drug development in GBM, where several preclinical GBM models are utilized to 1) rigorously evaluate a new therapy, and 2) develop molecular and functional companion diagnostics to predict response.
Laboratory investigations are central to the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Funding agencies and industry often require an institution to demonstrate proof of concept and show sufficient resources to successfully launch a clinical trial before support is provided for a specific study. With a philanthropic investment, Dr. Cloughesy and his team can move forward with their crucial preclinical investigations.
