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.

There are episodes and there are episodes. I couldn't think of a better episode as we "wrap" Season One than this one with Dr. Gail Bones. This is an episode that was truly months in the making. I first met Gail on a flight from Austin to Nashville, which we discuss in the podcast. The flight was back in May. I was headed up for both meetings and an Amy Grant concert.

At the time, Team Powdered Donut™ wasn't even a figment of my imagination. It is truly amazing what has happened in just six months and all that is ahead. It is all in trusting our stories. It is all in being open to new connections. It is all in being open to the ultimate connection which we celebrate on Christmas Day, the birth of Christ. Enjoy the episode. Enjoy the season, not just this season of the podcast, but the holiday season itself. Will be back early in the New Year to start 2026 and Season Two the Team Powdered Donut podcast.

Show Resources

1. Gail Bones' Music
2. Emily Weeks' Music (Gail's daughter)
3. Gail Bones' Writing & Bible Studies

Who Is Gail Bones?

Dr. Gail Nelson Bones is the founder of CrossWise Living, a ministry devoted to helping people at all stages in life navigate change through cross-generational relationships. She has been engaging audiences as a speaker, songwriter, and worship leader for over thirty years. Formerly a professor of education at San Diego Christian College, Dr. Bones is the author of Living CrossWise: Hope and Help for Navigating Transition.

Gail and her husband Jeff have been married for over 30 years and together have recorded seven albums of original Christian music. Along with their now-grown children, they spent many years presenting family concerts at churches across the United States. Gail is currently a women’s ministry leader and member of the worship team at her home church in La Mesa, California.

Excited by this latest episode with Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. Jonathan and I ran into each other when the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project came to Austin a few weeks ago. My family's connection with Habitat for Humanity came when my late wife, Maureen, was getting her Masters at the University of Texas School of Architecture. They had a design competition in one of her classes, and Maureen and her teams' design was chosen. I remember how much joy it brought her to be on that build site each day throughout the semester.

Just like Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity, once said "love is in the mortar joints." It is that same spirit of love that infuses Team Powdered Donut™. As President Carter once said, "my faith demands that I do whatever I can wherever I am whenever I can for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference." We each have that same ability to take our one thing to make a difference. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Jonathan about his career, his faith and how he came to Habitat for Humanity and thrilled to have him as a guest on the podcast.

Who is Jonathan Reckford?

Jonathan Reckford is chief executive officer of Habitat for Humanity International, a global Christian housing organization that has helped more than 62 million people construct, rehabilitate or preserve their homes. Since 2005, when he took the top leadership position, local Habitat organizations in all 50 states and in more than 70 countries have grown from serving 125,000 individuals each year to helping more than 3 million people last year build strength, stability and self-reliance through shelter.

After graduating from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill where he was a Morehead Scholar, Jonathan worked as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs. He was also the recipient of a Henry Luce Scholarship, which enabled him to do marketing work for the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee and coach the Korean rowing team in preparation for the 1988 Olympics.

He earned his Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business before spending the first part of his career in the for-profit sector, including executive and managerial positions at Marriott, The Walt Disney Co., and Best Buy. While serving as executive pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church near Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was recruited for the CEO position at Habitat.

Jonathan is the chair of Leadership 18, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Global Future Council on the Future of Cities for the World Economic Forum, and a board member of the Barron Collier Companies.

Named the most influential nonprofit leader in America in 2017 by The NonProfit Times, Jonathan is the author of Our Better Angels: Seven Simple Virtues That Will Change Your Life and the World.

He and his wife, Ashley, have three children and live in Atlanta.

Jane Kristen Marczewski, known as Nightbirde, was an inspiration to the world. Many remember her as the winner of Simon Cowell’s Golden Buzzer on America’s Got Talent in 2021, but most remember her by her wise words and demeanor. Jane represented so many who were going through their own difficult journeys when she walked on that stage.

Her ability to say, “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy” in the face of terminal cancer gave hope to millions of people watching. She knew that she was so much more than the bad things that had happened to her, and that truth gave tens of thousands of people the encouragement to keep going.

Such an inspiring conversation with her big brother, Mitch. About hope. About love.

America's Got Talent - Jane's Performance

Nightbirde Foundation

Toolbox Ministries

Super excited to be sharing this episode of the Team Powdered Donut™ podcast with Paula Schneider, now the honorary vice chair of Susan G. Komen as she transitions out of her role these past eight years as CEO. Two things as I drop this episode at the beginning of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. First, as I look back on my first 12 or so episodes of this podcast, I feel so incredibly privileged for my guests to be sharing their stories with me and with each of you, my listeners. Second, as you will discover from this episode with Paula, as I listen to all my guests' stories, I realize how incredibly important it is for us to listen to our own hearts. That is truly the essence of Team Powdered Donut. As I like to say, this podcast and the road trip ahead are all about "One Story. One Moment. One Donut at a Time."

Paula has an incredible story from her career in fashion to her own journey through breast cancer to her leadership at Susan G. Komen. She has indeed kept love strong and has made a dent in both cancer and cancer research. That dent matters deeply to me. I do what I do with cancer advocacy, and with this podcast and road trip because my love for my late wife, Maureen, was and remains strong. For those coming together in San Antonio now, know how much I love each of you, especially the patients and patient advocates. You are incredibly important to me, and I am thankful to Paula for sharing her story and for her leadership at Komen to make a dent in cancer because that dent means another day of life for those faced by this disease.

Love Stays Strong (Available at Amazon)

Who Is Paula Schneider?

Paula Schneider is honorary vice chair of Susan G. Komen®. From 2017-2025 Paula served as president & CEO of Susan G. Komen and was responsible for day-to-day operations, strategic direction, and was accountable for the world’s largest breast cancer organization. As a breast cancer survivor, and having lost her mother to metastatic breast cancer, Schneider’s work is personal as she brings a unique combination of business expertise and real-world perspective to Komen’s mission as CEO.

During her tenure, Schneider led Komen through a critical period, transforming Komen’s national network of local affiliate organizations into a single, unified entity to increase efficiency and impact across the country. Under her leadership, Komen accelerated research, advocacy, community outreach and patient care, leaving the organization well-positioned for future success. To date, Komen has invested more than $3.5 billion in these critical areas, advancing its mission to save lives and to prevent and cure breast cancer. Schneider continues to serve the organization using her renowned and respected voice to support the urgent mission to end deaths from breast cancer in our lifetime.

Schneider is widely regarded as a business expert in organizational management and finance. Prior to Komen, she served as CEO of American Apparel, which was the largest vertically integrated clothing manufacturer in the U.S. with over 8,500 employees and 600 retail stores internationally. She previously served as president of the Warnaco Swimwear Group, the largest swimwear company in the world, with brands such as Speedo and Calvin Klein. Subsequently, Schneider became a senior advisor at the private equity firm, The Gores Group, where she created platform strategies for best-in-class operations and potential acquisitions. Schneider became the first female CEO in The Gores Group’s portfolio of companies.

Schneider is a sought-after public speaker on impactful leadership and women’s health. She has been a featured speaker at such thought leadership

From academia to patient centered research and now as the Chief Medical Officer for Blood Cancer United, Gwen Nichols is changing the paradigm of care for hematology patients. When faced by a diagnosis of blood cancer, you must have the right treatment to deal with the specific form of the disease. Gwen has followed her passion since that first biology teacher inspired her and an early mentor nudged her into hematology to find, fund and ensure those treatments exist. Such a fun and open conversation that I hope inspire others to trust themselves to follow their own hearts, their own passions like Gwen has... and still is. "One story, one moment one donut at a time."

Who is Gwen Nichols?

As Blood Cancer United’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Gwen Nichols, MD, plays a critical role in advancing cures through a unique combination of clinical, academic and pharmaceutical experience. She oversees Blood Cancer United’s scientific research portfolio, patient services and policy and advocacy initiatives. Dr. Nichols leads an international team of preeminent leaders in pediatric acute leukemia to conceive, develop and implement PedAL BCU, a first of its kind global master clinical trial and a key component of the Dare to Dream Project, transforming treatment and care for kids with blood cancer.

A physician and scientific researcher, Dr. Nichols has dedicated her career to advancing cures for cancers. Before joining Blood Cancer United, she was oncology site head of the Roche Translational Clinical Research Center, where she worked to develop new cancer therapies, translating them from the laboratory to clinical trials. Prior to joining Roche in 2007, Dr. Nichols was at Columbia University for more than ten years, where she served as the director of the Hematologic Malignancies Program.

While at Columbia University, Dr. Nichols maintained an active clinical practice and received the prestigious honors of “Physician of the Year” from Columbia University and the “Humanism in Medicine Award” from the American Association of Medical Colleges.