Chapter 38: The Future of Cancer Prevention
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Description
Dr. Levin begins this Chapter of final comments by stating how privileged he has been to know Lee Clark, Charles LeMaistre, and John Mendelsohn, each of whom brought important leadership to MD Anderson.
Dr. Levin then states that the future of cancer prevention is very promising. He offers the view that the treatment of cancer is very difficult and expensive, and so preventing cancer through lifestyle, nutrition and the avoidance of tobacco and alcohol is very important.
Identifier
LevinB_06_20130828_C38
Publication Date
8-28-2013
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Topics Covered
The Interview Subject's Story - OverviewPortraits Understanding Cancer, the History of Science, Cancer Research 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:
Well, I think that I would want to reflect a little bit on the fact that I was, in my career at MD Anderson, was privileged to know three presidents—Lee Clark, Mickey LeMaistre, and John Mendelsohn—and I felt that I owed each of them a great deal. Lee Clark I met both at his prime and also subsequently in his waning years. And Mickey LeMaistre I had the good fortune to work under more directly. And then, of course, I worked closely with John Mendelsohn. And all of them were important in the leadership qualities they brought to MD Anderson. Mickey LeMaistre, in particular, I thought was a visionary with regard to the whole role of cancer prevention, and to whatever extent I was successful in helping to develop the Division of Cancer Prevention, I owe that all to Mickey LeMaistre’s vision and guidance.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
What do you think is the prognosis for interest in prevention as we go forward with more research, better ways of dissemination information to the public with social media, and all kinds of new tools that are available to people? What is going to be the future of prevention?
Bernard Levin, MD:
I’m very optimistic that it continues to play an important role, because I don’t believe that the therapy of advanced cancer is going to be as easy as some would have us believe with the term “personalized medicine.” I think it’s still going to be a very hard-fought struggle and a very expensive struggle to provide real benefit to people who have advanced cancer. So the argument that one could actually interdict the process, prevent cancer ever developing by appropriate lifestyles, better understanding of nutrition, physical activity, avoidance of tobacco, all those well-known paths, certainly continues to have value. How and when we influence or try to influence such behaviors is changing, as you aptly described. The use of social media, the use of communication devices, the ability to understand more precisely how to influence the behavior of young people who are still very susceptible to noxious influences, particularly tobacco and drugs, those continue to evolve, and I think there will also be much better understanding of how to use small molecules, chemicals, that might be used in high-risk individuals to prevent cancer from developing; in other words, the future of chemoprevention. So I remain very optimistic that this will continue to be an important focus for cancer research in the future.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
] Well, thank you very much. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Bernard Levin, MD:
No. Again, I want to say thank you, express my deep appreciation to you and to MD Anderson, and I wish you good continued success in this important accumulation of knowledge.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
All right. Well, thank you very much, Dr. Levin, I really do appreciate it. And I am turning off the recorder at 10:40. (end of interview)
Recommended Citation
Levin, Bernard MD and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 38: The Future of Cancer Prevention" (2013). Interview Chapters. 1374.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1374
Conditions Governing Access
Open
