Doug: The Lettuce Breeder Who Never Stopped Growing

Meet Doug - a vegetable breeder from Gilroy, CA, whose severe coronary artery calcification went unreported for years before he received the care he needed. Through use of our early detection algorithms like Bunkerhill iCAC and Bunkerhill AVC, we aim to ensure that patients like Doug don't slip through the cracks.

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Doug bends over a row of romaine lettuce, fingers brushing against the tender green leaves. The morning sun catches the silver at his temples, and he jots a quick note in the well-worn notebook he always carries. This season, like every season before it, is an experiment—one of flavors, appearances, and resilience.

For years, Doug developed the romaine lettuce breeding program at Taylor Farms, trying to shape the future of one of America’s most ubiquitous salad greens. When he retired, he simply kept going, continuing his work independently on small research plots from Salinas, California to Yuma, Arizona.

“I guess I never really saw retirement as stopping,” Doug says with a chuckle, tucking his pencil behind his ear. “There were too many questions left to answer.”

This season, those answers lie in 20 strains of lettuce, planted on roughly a tenth of an acre of a larger farmer’s field. Some of these strains have been in development for more than six years, trialed over season after season as Doug meticulously documents their progress. His methodical approach is second nature, shaped by decades of experience across the entire produce value chain—sales, marketing, finance, and farming.

“Breeding lettuce isn’t just about making something taste better,” Doug explains. “It’s about durability, disease resistance, and making sure farmers have something they can depend on.”

His wife, Linda, is never far away, helping tend to the trials, reinforcing the bond between their life’s work and the life they’ve built together.

But Doug’s careful documentation and analytical mind aren’t confined to his fields. In 2010, they became critical to his own survival.

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A mass appeared on the right side of his neck, and Doug’s logical instincts kicked in. He pursued care at a local community hospital, where a biopsy confirmed what no one ever wants to hear: cancer. Further evaluation at a regional academic medical center revealed it to be P16-linked throat cancer.

“It is a shock for anyone to hear this information, but the surgeon told me that this was a very known and treatable cancer. At this point you get into the routine of your treatments and hope for the best outcome.”

The cancer was surgically removed, and he underwent follow-up care at the academic center, including periodic CT scans to monitor for recurrence. Doug stayed diligent, tracking every appointment, every scan, every recommendation. After five years in remission, he exhaled.

“I was told by my cancer care team I was cancer clear and that now I should monitor all the other health issues that might occur for someone my age.”

Yet, five years after his cancer battle, a new revelation blindsided him. Despite feeling healthy, his endocrinologist flagged elevated LDL cholesterol levels, referring him to a cardiologist. It was at this appointment that Doug learned something staggering: his CT scans from years earlier had already revealed severe coronary calcifications.

No one had told him.

“It was like finding out the storm had been building all along, and I had been walking straight into it,” Doug says. “I remember Linda and I just looking at each other, thinking—how does this happen?”

A medical trainee in the room tried to reassure him, saying, “Nothing bad has happened yet. Now we make a plan to keep it that way.”

That comment stuck with Doug.

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More than a decade later, he’s still here. He’s active, eating well, staying fit. He approaches his health like he does his fields—with patience, precision, and care. And yet, the “what ifs” linger. What if he had suffered a major cardiovascular event in those five years before anyone noticed the warning signs in his scans? What if no one had ever caught it?

Doug doesn’t dwell on it. Instead, he focuses on the work in front of him—on the next season’s lettuce, on the observations he’ll make, on the discoveries still waiting to be made.

“Life’s kind of like plant breeding,” he says, glancing down at a promising new romaine variety. “You never really know what’s going to happen. But you do your best, and you keep growing.”