David Sirabasku’s career with the University of Texas Houston was an impressive one. Aside from his dedicated years of teaching in both undergraduate and graduate programs, David Sirbasku raised remarkable amounts of money in extramural and peer reviewed grant support to study endocrine cancers with a focus on breast cancer. He believes that his focus on breast cancer, which has been a hot topic for many years, always helped his efforts in securing research funding.

“Since 1984 I had made it my priority to continually seek grants and support for the research efforts of the university. Funding for research is always an issue and it seems there can never be enough. I raised over 5.3 million dollars which averaged $300,000 per year,” said David Sirbasku. The university is still updating their records prior to the 1980s and David Sirbasku believes that once that is complete, his files will show over 8 million dollars.

“Basically, from the moment I stepped onto the college campus in 1972, I began my efforts in securing funding. I talked to anyone who would listen, submitted numerous proposals to any and every agency out there that had something to give. And, I have to say, it worked. I am proud of what we did with that money and believe that every penny was well invested in cancer research,” said David Sirbasku.

David Sirbasku acknowledges that his name simply being a part of a proposal began to have enough weight for a company or institution to award the funding. Once established in the scientific community as trustworthy and working hard for a cause such as cancer, David Sirbasku had made many friends and admirers. He basically learned to be a businessman while keeping his hand in the research.

“Like everything else in life, it became good business practices. I invested time in various associations and worked with the government any chance I got. My name was out there and people were rooting for me and my research teams. It is amazing to have the money you need to pursue your work. I would not change a moment of any of it,” recalls David Sirbasku.