Chapter 20: A Perspective on Recent Changes in Administration and MD Anderson’s Growth
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Description
Ms. Villejo talks about the vision Dr. Ronald DePinho has brought to MD Anderson and comments on how Patient Education fits into the recent spurt of institutional growth.
She offers the opinion that the Moon Shots Program is understandable for the public and brings excitement to the “war on cancer.” She discusses different metaphors used to describe research discoveries in cancer.
Next she notes that Patient Education must always stay connected to the institution’s strategic plans.
She observes that, with growth, heads of departments and offices have less immediate access to MD Anderson’s president. She notes that all the presidents have supported the Patient Education Office and credits Steve Stuyck [Oral History Interview] with bringing awareness to the Office’s contributions.
Identifier
VillejoL_03_20150605_C20
Publication Date
6-5-2015
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES, Oral History Interview, June 05, 2015
Topics Covered
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center - Institutional Change; Growth and/or Change; Institutional Mission and Values; MD Anderson Culture; MD Anderson Impact; Research, Care, and Education; Understanding Cancer, the History of Science, Cancer Research; Leadership
Transcript
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
What’s your perspective on the particular character of growth that MD Anderson has been undergoing since 2011 and Dr. DePinho came in with this new vision of how to expand MD Anderson care nationally and globally?
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
I think that it’s very exciting. As I mentioned before, you can have and embrace big ideas and things will happen. So it’s a different way to organize our efforts. And I think that it’s a very exciting time to do that. It I think provides maybe a clearer perspective externally as far as moon shots and really there’s such a tremendous amount of science and research and all that that goes behind it. It’s very exciting. But for me the public can see oh, I know what that means, I know what a moon shot it. And they’re really focusing in this area bringing all of their resources to bear to focus on curing this cancer or managing this cancer better or whatever. I think that that really translates to the public. What do you think?
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
I think I agree with you. I’ve talked to a number of people and read a number of things, individuals who’ve taken issue with the metaphor of the moon shots. But I guess I never really thought that anybody was confused. I mean to me a moon shot is where we have the energy and the drive to take on what everybody else thinks is impossible and we’re going to do our best job at this. We’ve got a focus. It never occurred to me that—I mean I was talking to one interview subject who felt that people would think that this was purely a technological advance and it didn’t mean anything else. And I don’t really agree with that. I think people understand moon shots as being a very human enterprise as well. So—
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
I think there’s a lot of excitement about it. I mean obviously in house there’s probably a lot of complexities and turmoil and people working to get it organized the right way or prioritized the right way. But as part of a concept I think that it brings excitement to this War on Cancer. I mean I was at—I did an internship at the National Cancer Institute and I was there when they were having—believe it was the tenth anniversary of the War on Cancer. And so that was the excitement in the day. Nixon had this War on Cancer and funded this information and—
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Yeah, the National Cancer Act.
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I like the phrasing of taking it out of a battle and a war. I just—
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
There’s a lot of that in the news already.
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
Yes. Yes. And just even personally it’s like if you fight the battle and you don’t win what does that mean. I don’t want to ever make people think like you didn’t fight hard enough or whatever. So I mean I’m looking over here. It says, “Fighting Cancer. Now That’s a Job!” That’s a different perspective too. It’s not this whole—fighting is not a battle. Fighting can be a lot of different concepts.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Yeah. And I guess what I key on personally in moon shots in this—it’s like I never do this, I never give my own personal opinions in these interviews. (laughter) But you asked. So I mean to me it really focuses on heroism and drive and it’s just we have a commitment to do this. And to me it isn’t about—I mean obviously you want to succeed but there’s no end point implied in the phrase itself. I mean there are obviously very strict goals in the way that moon shots themselves are being organized. And they’re very time-focused projects. But for the public that’s not what they see. They see the grand project.
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
Exactly, exactly. And I’ve been to several lectures for the docs that are leading some of these initiatives. And I’ve worked here a long time. And it’s still amazing to me to hear about what they’re finding at the molecular level to help them give a more personalized chemotherapy and looking at how that is all affecting the patient at a molecular level to be able to target the therapy. It’s amazing to me. So there’s just a tremendous amount of great things going on. But it’s a beast. So—
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
What’s your read on the climate at the institution? I mean obviously you in your area have gone through a lot of restructuring, a lot of turmoil. This is a period of change. And you understand the spirit in which I’m asking this. It’s a moment at which the institution is going through a huge amount of change. What’s your read on that?
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
Mm-hmm. As I mentioned before, we have a totally different perspective, so our heads are down and really working developing the educational programs and really making sure that we are connected to the strategic plan, to the strategic goals. And the top of the pyramid that they have right now is really meeting the patients’ needs. And so that’s what we are trying to do. I understand because I read it in the paper that there’s a lot of faculty discontent and a tremendous amount of turmoil. But with what we do, we’re not in those discussions. And so I do understand that that’s happening. But I really can’t give you any feedback on that because we’re—I hear some individuals here and there. But it’s not something that I’m engrossed in day in and day out. So I am hoping that it’s that whole what is it, storming, norming, performing kind of situation. This place has grown so tremendously. I mean that’s one of the things I showed you this—we used to type letters and Dr. LeMaistre wrote all over it. Dr. LeMaistre would come down to our office. I mean we had a very personal relationship with him. We knew—we worked closely with Dr. Mendelsohn because Steve reported to Dr. Mendelsohn. So we didn’t have this huge infrastructure between us and the president. And so they were very aware of what we did. And the place was smaller. And then of course with Dr. Mendelsohn it started growing exponentially. And so Dr. DePinho has to straddle all that. And he has his priorities and visions. And you get a bunch of smart people in the room and everybody’s going to have a different vision and perspective. And there are very very vocal faculty obviously that are going through news media to talk about the issues that they think are important that are not being addressed or not being handled well. But I don’t know if you saw Dr. DePinho was nice enough to come to my—
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
I didn’t notice. To your retirement party.
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
Yeah. He came. He was one of the first ones there and signed a little note and took pictures with us. And he left before the program started. But I mean that meant a lot to me. I mean he’s a busy man. And obviously doesn’t go to every retirement party. So that meant a lot to me that he recognized our work.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Yeah, that’s a lovely statement. Absolutely.
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
And Dr. Mendelsohn would come when we had a Learning Center anniversary. I don’t know what it was, ten- or fifteen-year anniversary. And he came to the Learning Center. So I think because Steve was such an incredible communicator and was always bringing awareness to our efforts, he reported directly to the presidents, so I was able to meet with Mendelsohn and giving him overview. I met with Dr. DePinho when he came, gave him overview of our program. So those kind of things are very important so that they know. Obviously they’re very focused on the clinical and the faculty and the research, but that the education mission is very important too. And that was actually written. Education was actually—I mean it’s always been part of the—one of the components. But as a mission statement, we got it in there when Steve was here.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Yeah, he talked about that process. It’s pretty amazing. Yeah.
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Recommended Citation
Villejo, Louise and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 20: A Perspective on Recent Changes in Administration and MD Anderson’s Growth" (2015). Interview Chapters. 1535.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1535
Conditions Governing Access
Open
