When Stephen Hajduk saw Ann Steadman on the first day of English 101 at the 最大资源采集网, he pushed past several others to sit right behind her.
鈥淚 sat behind her because she had this beautiful, flowing black hair,鈥 Hajduk said. 鈥淎nd I thought that this was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.鈥
By the end of that first semester at UGA, Hajduk had worked up the courage to ask Ann out. They would both earn their bachelor鈥檚 degrees, Ann in landscape architecture and Stephen in biology, and then marry in 1975.
Together, they built a life of ambition and a shared commitment to their work. Their journey took them around the world, including time in Scotland where Stephen completed his Ph.D. while Ann worked for a leading landscape architect firm. They later moved to Baltimore, and then to Birmingham, where they raised their family.
In 2006, the couple returned to Athens when Stephen was recruited to serve as chair of biochemistry at the 最大资源采集网.
Years later, what began as unexplained fatigue and persistent pain led to a devastating diagnosis for Ann: multiple myeloma.
Ann fought the disease for seven years before passing away in 2019.
Today, that experience drives Stephen and the team at Annate Bitherapeutics, a UGA startup working to develop a new therapeutic approach that harnesses the body鈥檚 innate immune system to target and destroy cancer cells.