Chapter 01: Attracted to the Challenges of Pharmacy at MD Anderson
Files
Loading...
Identifier
AndersonR_01_20040518_C01
Publication Date
5-18-2004
Publisher
The Making Cancer History® Voices Oral History Collection, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Roger W. Anderson, PhD, Oral History Interview, May 18, 2004
Topics Covered
The Interview Subject - Joining MD Anderson/Coming to Texas; Overview; An Institutional Unit; MD Anderson History; MD Anderson Snapshot
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
Lesley Williams Brunet:
Test test. Test test. This is Lesley Williams Brunet about to record an oral history interview with Roger W. Anderson, Ph.D. The date is May 18, 2004. This interview is being conducted in Dr. Anderson’s office in the Division of Pharmacy at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. The interview is being recorded for the Historical Resources Center oral history project. The conversation we were having before.
Roger W. Anderson, PhD:
Right.
Lesley Williams Brunet:
Just for the record I’d like to know how you were approached to come down here?
Roger W. Anderson, PhD:
OK, well, this goes back to about 1977. I was contacted by the administration but they had been given my name by my preceptor and mentor of the graduate program at Ohio State. They had called him because of his growing notoriety of producing Directors of Pharmacy in his Masters program and residency program at Ohio State. So people would typically call him and say, do you have somebody that we might be interested in for --
Lesley Williams Brunet:
And who was this?
Roger W. Anderson, PhD:
Uh, his name was Cliff -- actually Clifton Latiolais.
Lesley Williams Brunet:
Our transcriber will thank you.
Roger W. Anderson, PhD:
Yes, and he was the director of the Ohio State program from probably about 1960 until his retirement many years later and I don’t know that exact date, but during those years he produced graduates that today are in about 140 major institutions as their directors of pharmacy.
Lesley Williams Brunet:
That’s quite an influence.
Roger W. Anderson, PhD:
So, yes, it was, and so anyway, he had given my name and so actually if you want to know the exact name, I was contacted by Kevin Andrews who was the assistant administrator at the time and the administrator was Warren Rutherford and so those are the two people that I interviewed with principally, as well as other people here, but then reported through Kevin Andrews to Warren Rutherford. And at the time of that interview, Dr. Clark was still the president so I had a discussion with Dr. Clark and I had a discussion with Dr. Hickey and Dr. Painter and Mr. Gilley (sp?)...
Lesley Williams Brunet:
All of this like in the interview process?
Roger W. Anderson, PhD:
Yeah, in the interview process, which was really -- it started late ’77 in the discussion phase but then, I can’t even remember the exact date of the interview, but it was in early ’78 that we had further discussions and then finalized the offer. I think it was really in May of 1978. And then they wanted me here right away and I started July 1st of 1978.
Lesley Williams Brunet:
And had you had an interest in oncology or was it the hospital?
Roger W. Anderson, PhD:
No, the interest was really in the hospital and in the complexity of the type of pharmacy operation that is here. I really had no specific advanced training or even strong interest in the oncology area but certainly have developed that since then. So that’s principally the way that I was contacted. They had, as I understand it, I actually know a couple of the people that were also candidates and they did like typically is done, they zeroed it down to about three candidates and then I was given the offer.
Lesley Williams Brunet:
Now Mr. McKinley was still here?
Roger W. Anderson, PhD:
No. Uh, yes he was. Yes he was but he was in -- they had named earlier and I’m not too sure if it was about a year before. His associate director, Stephen, and it’s S-T-E-P-H-E-N and in fact it was Stephen Stephen who was the acting director. During the entire time of my interview, McKinley was here but he was sort of an assistant. He had stepped down a little early as the director.
Lesley Williams Brunet:
I know he wanted to retire for a while.
Roger W. Anderson, PhD:
Yes, and he stayed, actually, for about two more years, even with me.
Lesley Williams Brunet:
With you.
Roger W. Anderson, PhD:
Yes.
Recommended Citation
Anderson, Roger W. PhD and Brunet, Lesley W., "Chapter 01: Attracted to the Challenges of Pharmacy at MD Anderson" (2004). Interview Chapters. 372.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/372
Conditions Governing Access
Open
