New Cancer Center Director Douglas Yee, M.D., at the April 12 welcome reception.

The following are excerpts from remarks made by Douglas Yee, M.D., at a reception on April 12, 2007 to welcome him as the new director of the University of Minnesota Cancer Center. The reception was attended by about 150 people including Cancer Center faculty and staff; leaders from the University of Minnesota's Academic Health Center, the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, and the Cancer Center's Community Advisory Board; and friends of the Cancer Center. Frank Cerra, M.D., senior vice president for health sciences, introduced Dr. Yee to the gathering.

Thank you, Dr. Cerra, for those very kind remarks. I also want to tell you what an honor and privilege it is for me to be here today, and I want to thank you and the search committee for selecting me as Cancer Center director.

I would like to make two points in my comments today. One of them is to tell you who I am and how I got here, and the second point is to relay a conversation I had with a patient just last week.

Who I am and how I got here

I finished my medical oncology training about 20 years ago at the National Cancer Institute and at that time, we (cancer physicians and researchers) had already made some remarkable progress in several diseases that were previously incurable: Hodgkin's disease, testis cancer, lymphoma, and leukemia. All of those diseases became curable because we targeted treatment at a single cancer target, DNA replication. All tumor cells must synthesize DNA, and the cells of those diseases were remarkably sensitive to this type of chemotherapy. The progress we made in understanding and treating those diseases was fairly dramatic.

At the same time, there were a large number of cancers where we were making very little progress: lung cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, and breast cancer. With these cancers, that particular approach of hitting DNA synthesis did not seem to actually change the outcome as much as we would have liked.

So, after I finished my clinical training, I began doing laboratory research. I remember that the striking thing to me was the large gulf between laboratory research and clinical care. Many of the things that were being discovered in the laboratory at that point in time really were not translating into any changes in patient outcomes.

I chose breast cancer research because there was already a very good example where understanding breast cancer biology, in particular understanding the estrogen receptor alpha, changed the way we treated the disease. At the same time, we were starting to understand the role of oncogenes, particularly the role of the HER2 gene in breast cancer biology. The drug Herceptin was developed to target this gene and again this drug changed the natural history of breast cancer.

The key thing I learned after my training was that findings made in the laboratory can really dramatically change the way cancer impacts people. I became interested in having a research and clinical career because I wanted to improve cancer outcomes based on the findings made in the laboratory.

How I see the role of the Cancer Center

The second story I'd like to tell you today related to a patient I saw last week. When I walked into room, the patient said, "Congratulations on being the Cancer Center director." I said, "Thank you very much," and then she asked, "What is the Cancer Center anyway?"

Speakers at the reception to welcome Dr. Yee as director and to thank Dr. John Kersey for his service as the founding Cancer Center director included (left to right): Barbara Forster, chair, Cancer Center Community Advisory Board; Dr. Yee, Dr. Cerra, and Dr. Kersey.

There are several ways that we can answer that question. One way would be the factual recitation: We're one of 39 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers; our membership includes hundreds of members who control $73 million in research; we have this beautiful cancer center research building. But I don't think those facts really get at the heart of the Cancer Center. So, as I thought about the question a bit more, I told the patient that I think the Cancer Center is a collection of people working together for a single goal and that is: No person's quantity or quality of life should be affected by cancer. I believe everyone in this room today shares that goal.

It is also very clear that the most effective cancer treatment is not contained in any single discipline, or within the knowledge of any single person, or a single set of ideas. It encompasses all of the researchers represented by a cancer center all the way from population scientists to basic scientists to laboratory translational investigators to clinicians.

Things have changed dramatically over the past 15 years with basic cancer research and clinical care now being right on top of each other. Now the things that we learn in the laboratory are immediately translated into better outcomes for our patients. This is exactly where we, as a Cancer Center, want to be and where we need to proceed.

It's also my personal belief that this collaboration has to be done at an academic university cancer center where the people that have the knowledge, the skills, and the dedication to decrease cancer mortality are. So after I had that conversation with my patient, she next said to me, "What happens if cancer isn't a problem anymore?" I answered, "You know, that's exactly right, that's exactly what we want. We are one of the few enterprises where we'd love to be out of a job."

I think I speak for everyone here that that's our ultimate goal: To eradicate cancer as a problem. And again, I think the way we're going to do that is with a concerted team effort involving our multiple partners, including our hospital systems, our practice plan, our state government, our federal government, and all of the bright people represented in this room.

I hope my comments have told you a little more about me and how I got here, and a little more about how our Cancer Center needs to move forward. We need to be at the forefront of applying basic science knowledge into clinical care to affect the outcome of people with cancer.

The last thing I get to do today is introduce our next speaker who is Dr. John Kersey. I don't think John needs any introduction to this audience. I think it goes without saying that the reason we are literally all here today is because of John's effort, his dedication, enthusiasm, and drive to put the Cancer Center together. I came to the University of Minnesota eight years ago to work for Dr. Kersey, Dr. Phil McGlave, and Dr. Jonathan Ravdin with the idea that we could, as an institution, really impact cancer outcomes and cancer care. So again, John, thank you for allowing me to come to this University and, it's quite an honor for me to take over from you.