Chapter 22: The Division of Cancer Prevention, Awards, and an Active Retirement
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Description
In this Chapter, Dr. Levin first talks about the importance of receiving the Charles LeMaistre Outstanding Achievement Award and the American Society of Clinical Oncology Award for Cancer Prevention. He then talks about the Betty B. Marcus Chair that was created for him. [The recorder failed during Dr. Levin’s reflections on receiving honors/awards.]
Dr. Levin next explains how pleased that the paradigm for cancer prevention at MD Anderson has been established, with new people pushing the field ahead. He wishes that he could have had more of an impact on inefficiencies and overutilization of clinical resources at MD Anderson. He observes that new blood in leadership is important, and that it is a mistake for leaders to stay in any position for more than ten years.
Dr. Levin then lists the professional organizations he continues to participate with and notes his role in colorectal screening activities in New York City by way of the C-5 Coalition (he is on the steering committee). He serves on advisory boards for companies that screen for colorectal cancer and as still assistant editor of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. He enjoys the cultural activities in New York City and the beauty of the region.
Dr. Levin says how grateful he is to MD Anderson for his opportunities, his colleagues, and the institution’s leaders.
Identifier
LevinB_02_20130208_C22
Publication Date
2-8-2013
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Bernard Levin, MD, Oral History Interview, February 08, 2013
Topics Covered
The Interview Subject's Story - View on Career and Accomplishments Giving Recognition Contributions Activities Outside Institution Career and Accomplishments Post Retirement Activities Personal Background The Value of the Oral History Project
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
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
My goodness. I wanted to—I didn’t want to neglect to mention that there have been a number of honors and awards that you’ve received. I wondered if you wanted to mention—talk about any that were of particular significance to you.
Bernard Levin, MD:
Without dwelling on this for a long time, I suppose the one that was, perhaps, dearest to my heart was the Charles LeMaistre Award because of the connotation that it carried with his name and his—the history that he brought to MD Anderson and his heritage. The other was the ASCO—American Cancer Society Award for cancer prevention. I suppose those were two very important ones in my mind.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
I wanted to ask you about the Betty B. Marcus Chair in Cancer Prevention which you held from ’94 to 2007. Was that especially established to accommodate your position as vice president? I didn’t get a lot of information about—
Bernard Levin, MD:
Yes. Jim Bowen, the Vice President of Academic Affairs, I believe engineered that for me. I don’t know the exact circumstances and do not believe there is any person currently alive affiliated with that name and chair. I think we attempted to find—I attempted to find that out but never could be successful. I was just very grateful for their generosity. I had been the beneficiary of several endowed positions at Anderson and very much was in the debt of those who had seen fit to—both to endow the positions and to the endowment committee of having given me that honor.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Is there anything else you want to add about this piece—the awards and honors?
Bernard Levin, MD:
No. Thank you. Like most people who have received awards and honors it’s— (End of Audio Two)
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Okay. Yes. We’re recording.
Bernard Levin, MD:
What I am pleased about is that looking back, clearly, there is a Division of Cancer Prevention that is of viable and very much evolving concern and is ably led by new people and I believe will continue to flourish. The paradigm has been established, and I think that gives me great satisfaction. Also, seeing the growth of some individuals who I helped to recruit or helped to mentor is very gratifying. I—in some ways—wished I could have had more of an impact than I did in that I believe that there are some inefficiencies at Anderson and some wasteful habits that I wish I had the ability to influence. I think there is probably more bureaucracy than is needed. There is probably more utilization of clinical resources than is absolutely needed, and I think that there should be rotation of leadership in the way I’ve described. I think it’s a mistake to keep people in leadership roles for fifteen, twenty, twenty-five years. I think new blood is always worth considering. I believe in this expression that I’ve been taught that it’s best to be careful as you work your way up the ladder because you might meet some of those people as you come down the ladder.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
That’s an important piece of wisdom. Yeah. Is there anything that you would like to say about what you’re doing now post-retirement?
Bernard Levin, MD:
Well, I’ve tried to continue some activities related to philanthropic foundations. I am the past and first chair of the World Gastroenterology Foundation, and I have also become involved in colorectal cancer screening activities in New York City, which was already ongoing well before I got here and joined the C-5 Coalition as its chair of the steering committee. I continue to enjoy New York enormously—all the cultural opportunities here are absolutely staggering. My wife and I participate fully in those many cultural activities.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
What’s one of your favorites?
Bernard Levin, MD:
New York Philharmonic, the Chamber Music Society, theatre—wonderful theatre groups—and also exploration of a new geographical environment in New York or Hudson River Valley—all very, very pretty. I also serve on the advisory boards of a couple companies that are related to screening for colorectal cancer, and I have enjoyed that small foray into the commercial world. But my time is relatively limited. I am still an associate editor of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute and enjoy that exposure as well. My time with reading and listening to music is otherwise fully occupied.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Bernard Levin, MD:
Yes. I am very grateful in all respects to all the opportunities that I had at MD Anderson and the wisdom of its leaders and the support of many, many colleagues through the years. I think few individuals with my background and my training could have ever imagined that I would have been able to benefit so much from all that I received. An example of that is this recording. The fact that the prevailing leadership at MD Anderson saw fit to invest in the recording of a history and documentation of previous and present faculty is a tribute to the wisdom of the institution.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Well, thank you. I really appreciate the time you’ve taken.
Bernard Levin, MD:
Oh, it’s a pleasure.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
I’ve enjoyed talking to you.
Bernard Levin, MD:
It’s a pleasure. Thank you for coming here in the midst of Blizzard Nemo.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Well, it looks like we don’t have too many snowflakes right now. I guess they’ll be coming.
Bernard Levin, MD:
They’ll be coming. Well, thanks.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Well, thank you very much, and I’m turning off the recorder at 12:45. (End of Audio Three Session Two)
Recommended Citation
Levin, Bernard MD and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 22: The Division of Cancer Prevention, Awards, and an Active Retirement" (2013). Interview Chapters. 1358.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1358
Conditions Governing Access
Open
