Drs.
John and Cay Crowley launched Cancer Research And Biostatistics (CRAB®) in 1997
because John Crowley envisioned he could provide cancer research data management
and biostatistical analysis more economically than existing organizations could.
His strategy was to streamline organizational overhead costs and to efficiently
manage research data by employing Web-based technologies. CRAB has evolved from
an unknown start-up operating out of a home office with four part-time employees
into an internationally recognized corporation with a staff of eighty people.
CRAB’s team has impacted management of large research studies, diagnosis and
treatment of lung and myeloma cancers, and education of researchers and
biostatisticians in several countries. Curious about how a small startup
achieved this kind of success, I decided to learn more about CRAB’s story. What
I discovered was that a unique group of talented and innovative people adopted
Crowley’s vision as their own to forge concept into reality.
CRAB’s only documented history was a two-page chronology of events, which did
little to illuminate the forces behind CRAB’s growth. I began my research by
interviewing staff who had joined CRAB during its formative years. Originally, I
planned to write a narrative based on my research, highlighting milestones with
quotes from the interviews. As I talked the early staff members, I realized they
were recalling how their lives and careers had been affected by John Crowley’s
vision and his relationships with them. Because these personal and poignant
memories and reflections offered a view of CRAB seldom found in factual
histories of business entities, I chose to present CRAB’s story as an oral
history. Thus, Crab Tales explores the times, tribulations, and triumphs
of this organization from a unique perspective—the voices of those who
contributed to the organization’s evolution.
What makes CRAB’s Tales special? The spirit of the organization and its
people comes through vividly in reflections like these:
| Darene: The other thing that I’d like to say is that when I do exit
interviews, many times John’s vision comes up. He has gotten that out across
to all the departments and to all people. They mention they believe in the
mission and they believe in what CRAB is doing. Cay: We didn’t have different extensions ’cause we were all in five hundred square feet. Kristie was usually the first one to answer and she never answered “Cancer Research And Biostatistics.” It was always “Helloooo, this is CRAB!” Jason: Regardless of what happens in the future, getting the chance to work with JC and CRAB will be a highlight of my career and life. Where else will I be able to share drinks and a game of catch with my company’s CEO? Howard: Everyone at CRAB embodies the spirit of CRAB, and everybody has uniqueness to them. Everybody. There’s John, who is the original heart and soul of the organization, the moral leader, if you will. He’ll be the moral leader well after he’s retired. But, by himself, he would just be a statistician in the basement without all the other people adopting the same mission, living the same mission, having talents to bring forward. The company is amazing. It has fantastic statisticians, support staff, and other parts of the management team. Talent all over. As a whole, it’s sort of like saying the heart has to have the body, it’s got to have the arms, the ear, the eye, and all these people make up the whole of what CRAB is. |
Contact: Kathy Weaver, kmrcnw@msn.com