Chapter 11: Institutional Restructuring under Charles LeMaistre and the Effect on Research
Files
Loading...
Description
Dr. Keating explains that he came to focus on chronic lymphocytic leukemia because of a disagreement with Dr. Deisseroth over the mission of MD Anderson. In this chapter, Dr. Keating next explains the administrative restructuring that took place under Dr. Charles LeMaistre, who divided the Department of Developmental Therapeutics into a number of different departments. Dr. Emil J Freireich (former head of DT) became head of Hematology, and “apostles” from Developmental Therapeutics filtered throughout MD Anderson, bringing a “try anything” attitude to other departments. Dr. Keating expresses his sadness at the loss of the Department of Developmental Therapeutics and says that the “silo-ing” effect at that time had created a special environment for collegiality and research.
Identifier
KeatingM_02_20140520_C11
Publication Date
5-20-2014
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Topics Covered
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center - Institutional Change; Building/Transforming the Institution; Multi-disciplinary Approaches; Growth and/or Change; Obstacles, Challenges; Institutional Politics; Controversy; The Researcher; Professional Path; Obstacles, Challenges; Career and Accomplishments; MD Anderson Impact; Multi-disciplinary Approaches; Professional Practice; Collaborations; The Professional at Work
Transcript
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Can I interrupt you just for a sec, because I realized I’d forgotten to ask you a question last time, which was when you came for your fellowship, you were in Developmental Therapeutics, but when you came back as an assistant professor, were you in the Department of Leukemia or in Developmental Therapeutics?
Michael Keating, MD:
It was still Developmental Therapeutics at that time, and then after Dr. LeMaistre came, it was split into various departments so that the developmental therapeutics aspect sent leaders in development of new therapies in breast cancer and lung cancer, sarcoma, melanoma, etc., so the structure under Dr. LeMaistre had a lot of leadership in medical oncology developed from this one department.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So Developmental Therapeutics folded at that time or was greatly reduced?
Michael Keating, MD:
It was replaced eventually by the Department of Hematology, which is where Dr. Freireich, who had been leading DT, then was in charge of hematology. He was still predominantly interested in the leukemias, and Dr. Cabanillas was in charge of lymphoma and myeloma, and Cabanillas arrived the same time as I did, so that there were all [unclear] that went out from the main place and set up these concepts of trying new things and integrating it into translational research. There were some other groups that were doing it at the time in medicine. Dr. Mel Samuels and his student, Chris Logothetis, were looking at the whole concept of genital urinary tumors with prostate and testicular cancer, etc., and they had a very similar approach to what Frei and Freireich had developed. So that it was an expanding area, because I think the concepts of radiation had really had a big impact on the very sensitive tumors, but it was going to be hard work from then on unless you had more focused beams so that you could not cause very much collateral damage. The surgeons went from very mutilating surgery just to chase the cancer as far as you could and leave the person sort of functional, to a lot more sense of, you know, a more minimalist approach. But it was, again, palliation and control of local tumors so that the concept of chasing the metastatic disease was applicable to all of the different departments that Dr. LeMaistre set up. So in some ways it was sad, because there was this very vibrant Department of Developmental Therapeutics that spun off all these people, and it was set up as a number of silos so that we would speak to each other socially but functionally we would be in a different area, and there were not very many shared meetings that were being held, so that there wasn’t a lot of crosspollination, whereas it could occur when everyone was in the same department having similar meetings, etc.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Right, right. Interesting. Well, I’m sorry I derailed you.
Michael Keating, MD:
That’s all right.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
But I thought it was important to capture that detail.
Recommended Citation
Keating, Michael MD and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 11: Institutional Restructuring under Charles LeMaistre and the Effect on Research" (2014). Interview Chapters. 1179.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1179
Conditions Governing Access
Open
