Chapter 11: The New Division of Cancer Prevention: Defining Its Scope
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Description
Dr. Levin explains some debates about the areas to be included in “prevention.” He then talks about recruiting Dr. Ellen Gritz [Oral History Interview] as the head of the new Department of Behavioral Science (in ‘95/’96). Dr. Levin explains that he had high-level administrative support for all his projects. He talks about the establishing of the Program in Translational Research, the Clinical Prevention Center. The Division received an even greater boost after the arrival of John Mendelsohn in ’96. Dr. Mendelsohn became a champion of prevention; he also changed the reporting structure and revised Dr. Levin’s role to Division Head, rather than Vice President. Dr. Levin explains that Dr. Mendelsohn used his fundraising abilities to build support among the Board of Visitors
Identifier
LevinB_01_20130207_C11
Publication Date
2-7-2013
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Bernard Levin, MD, Oral History Interview, February 07, 2013
Topics Covered
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center - Building the Institution The Administrator Building/Transforming the Institution Multi-disciplinary Approaches Philanthropy, Fundraising, Donations, Volunteers The History of Health Care, Patient Care
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Disciplines
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Oncology | Oral History
Transcript
Bernard Levin, MD:
So in this struggle about the role of prevention, there came a time that it became obvious that we needed to recruit a chair of Behavioral Science. One thing led to another, and we were fortunate enough to find Ellen Gritz, who had a very varied background in terms of her own training, but then was focusing heavily on psycho-social aspects of tobacco. And she came, as you well know, and she has built an absolutely phenomenal program in all aspects of behavioral science related to cancer. She came from Los Angeles with her husband and made a big impact in the institution. She was the second department.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So Epidemiology first then—
Bernard Levin, MD:
Behavioral Science. In some ways, the Behavioral Science appointment as chair, but Margaret was already there. And I can’t remember exactly, but then the two were very close to each other in dates of appointment—Margaret and Ellen.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Can you give the approximate dates on that? I can’t recall when Dr. Gritz came to the institution.
Bernard Levin, MD:
I would say in 1996—’95 or ’96.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So it took a year—let me just put this on pause. (The recorder is paused.) Okay, we’re back after a quick stop. It’s 2:40. So about a year to kind of set those two departments up.
Bernard Levin, MD:
Right, a year or a year and a half, and a few months to recruit Liz Gammon. There was a hiatus there of a couple months. I also had backing from other people at the vice presidential level. David Bachrach, who was then the chief financial officer, was supportive, and Jim Bowen, who was Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Fred Becker, who was cautious about lab space but believed that the prevention program should be established. Mickey was very helpful in recruiting Ellen, because of the strong tobacco links. So then a third department became evident or necessary, and that was Clinical Cancer Prevention, to take on the role of the Cancer Prevention Center and to develop a program in translational research with labs. This was going to be the avenue for lab research. The first person who took that on as a chair was Victor Vogel. Victor was a breast cancer expert medical oncologist who subsequently became Vice President for Research at the American Cancer Society after some time in Pittsburgh at the Magee-Women’s Hospital and then subsequently left the American Cancer Society to become head of Oncology in the Geisinger Medical System in Pennsylvania. So Victor helped to establish a clinical prevention center. And he was succeeded by Scott Lippman, who was more interested in translational research and some of the laboratory research. So we recruited a research nurse for clinical—for a clinical prevention research program. We recruited a medical director of the prevention center. That, of course, coincided with the opening of the prevention building and the prevention center.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Now what were the services that the clinical prevention center provided?
Bernard Levin, MD:
Screening for standard and high-risk individuals. Initially mostly for cervix, breast cancer, and subsequently skin cancer, then even colon cancer.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
If I’m remembering correctly wasn’t the breast cancer gene—didn’t the publicity about that come out around ’92 or ’94?
Bernard Levin, MD:
Around ’92. And that also helped to move some of the interest. Although, as I’ve alluded, there was an interest in high-risk individuals in other parts of the institution, in gynecology and breast—so there was some overlap. Again, there was quite a lot of chemoprevention going on in Head and Neck medical oncology and Lung and Thoracic Oncology under Ki Hong. So there were pockets of work related to investigator interest. Again, I felt that it wasn’t smart to try and constitute a monopoly. I didn’t think that would work.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So on the one hand, you’re establishing these departments that are formally representing and giving a name to prevention in these different areas. Were there initiatives that you tried to put in place to help bring in these people from these other—as you called them—pockets within the institution, to keep that dialogue going across the institution? How did that happen?
Bernard Levin, MD:
It took place. By then John Mendelsohn had arrived in ’96. So I had been there two years in the role of Vice President for Cancer Prevention. He didn’t initially, I think, have as much of a commitment to the field. I think it grew on him substantially, and he became a champion of cancer prevention. But he, too, I found necessary to remind in various dialogues. He modified my role a little bit and said, “You know, you’re really not a vice president. You’re a division head more than a vice president,” whereas I had both titles with Mickey. I made the argument that cancer prevention was equivalent to research, education, and clinical care. But he changed the reporting structure a little bit, in a sense downgrading the role of vice president a little bit. Not that it led to any substantial difference, but there was an attitudinal difference that I perceived.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
What was that?
Bernard Levin, MD:
I think he was as possessive or jealous about making sure that prevention hadn’t received more attention than it deserved compared to the other areas. There wasn’t a division head who was a vice president in any other area. There were vice presidents but no vice presidents/division heads. So he would have rather saw me as a division head primarily and to some extent wearing the mantle of Vice President for Prevention part time, so to speak.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Did that have an impact on how you were able to continue pushing ahead?
Bernard Levin, MD:
Not really. I don’t think so. I mean, John—who I regarded extraordinarily highly—became a strong champion for prevention. And I don’t think it modified what could have been done or what would have happened substantially in any way.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Can I interrupt you just for a moment? I wanted to deal with this noise. (The recorder is paused.) All right, we’re back.
Bernard Levin, MD:
So John had become—later became a very strong proponent of cancer prevention. I don’t think there was a decrement because of my slight change in roles. The ability to raise funds as supported by John, and of course with Patrick Mulvey’s assistance, was very important in the growth of the prevention program. I had strong supporters among the Board of Visitors, some of whom had been patients and others who were friends. They, too, helped the growth of the program.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
In what ways?
Bernard Levin, MD:
Redacted And none of this—I’m saying all of this, because none of this would have happened without John’s tacit support. I have no doubt, whether he was directly or indirectly involved, he was involved.
Recommended Citation
Levin, Bernard MD and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 11: The New Division of Cancer Prevention: Defining Its Scope" (2013). Interview Chapters. 1347.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1347
Conditions Governing Access
Redacted
