Chapter 14: Vice President of Clinical Operations, and a New Working Environment
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Description
Dr. Ecung begins this chapter by narrating the story of how she was promoted in 2014 to Vice President of Clinical Operations (along with others in the Office of the Executive Vice President). She notes that her official role didn’t change, as its scope was already “huge” and she was required to have a great deal of agility to take on new projects.
The role did shift, however, along with circumstances over the next two years, she explains, because Dr. Buchholz had taken over as Physician in Chief in 2013. Once Robert Brigham came in as Vice President of Hospital and Clinic, she explains that she was expected to do more, but also serve a more restricted and diminished role.
She notes that projects effectively stopped when Dr. Buchholz came in as he adjusted to the new role.
Identifier
EcungWB_C14
Publication Date
2-27-2017
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Wenonah Ecung, PhD, Oral History Interview, February 27, 2017
Topics Covered
The Interview Subject's Story - The Administrator; The Administrator; Overview; MD Anderson Culture; Working Environment; Institutional Processes; Growth and/or Change; Obstacles, Challenges; Institutional Politics; Professional Practice; The Professional at Work; Leadership; On Leadership
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 :
Right. So tell me about shifting to Vice President of Clinical Operations, which happened in 2014.
Wenonah Ecung, PhD:
Yeah, that was interesting. And it was interesting because it was something I believed I deserved, but something I had been told because of the structure of Anderson, it would not happen. So that was with Buchholz coming into the role. He didn't tell me that. When he stepped into the role, when Burke transitioned, if you will, to the network and Tom Buchholz stepped into the role, like I said, the first two years, it ended up being Tom Buchholz and I. So I would like to believe he saw what I was capable of doing, and how I had assisted. But what I really believe happened is, Gerard left, lots came to me that Gerard did. Tom Buchholzand I say Tom Buchholz to differentiate from Tom Burke, nothing more than that. Buchholz was literally learning the role of what it meant to run this huge engine of Clinical Operations and Programs. And as this in parallel, Maureen Cagley on the Research side, was filibustering with her new boss, Ethan Dmitrovsky, as to why she should be Vice President on the Research side. And there were three of us, Maureen on the Research side, myself, Clinical Operations and Program and Chris McKee in Business Development. So Maureen was filibustering in terms of why she should become VP, and Ethan at a point agreed, "Yes, you should," and promoted her in November. Well, that was kind of the snowball that Chris and I needed, to be honest. So we were onthe reality for me is, because these three roles were so intimately linked to each EVP, our roles were similar, but very different, because they were directed at whatever area our EVP was in. There had always been agreement that whatever happened in one would happen in the others. And once Ethan committed to her, to promoting her, it was inevitable for Chris and I to end up getting promoted. So she was promoted in November, Chris and I were, I think, [April] of that very same fiscal year. So she wasshe'll always be my hero there. (laughter) She was the trailblazer that opened the door for the two of us. Because the role didn't really change. [ ] And we had often talked about this. Our scope, in terms of what we did, and the agility that was required for the roles, she and I both feltwe didn't talk much to Chrisbut she and I both felt we should alwayswe should have been VPs a long time ago. But she, at a strategic point in time, had a listening ear, which is Ethan Dmitrovsky, who was new and dependent upon her. And she was able to open the door. And with that, Buchholz then went to the president, and I knew that, and got approval to promote me.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
Well, that must have felt good.
Wenonah Ecung, PhD:
It did, in a really interesting way.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
Why do you say it that way?
Wenonah Ecung, PhD:
Because it's like you feel you deserve it, the role is there already. But you can't get people to acknowledge it. And then finally, one arm of you gets someone to say, "Okay." And then it happens for the other two.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
Interesting.
Wenonah Ecung, PhD:
Yeah. So interesting in that way.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
Yeah. So tell me about those next two years. Did they have kind of a different character in any way?
Wenonah Ecung, PhD:
Well, they were very different. Not because the role was designed to be different
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
Right.
Wenonah Ecung, PhD:
It was circumstance that surrounded us again. Buchholz came into the role in December of 2013? Twenty-thirteen, I think it was. Gerard, who was our Senior Vice President for Clinical Operations, who would have been his right hand, his partner in crime, if you willa good kind of crime, if you will, since this is being recorded, resigned, I think it was in January, February-ish, and left soon thereafter to take on a higher position at somewhere in Wisconsin. And part of Gerard 's leaving was because he felt he should be promoted to Senior Vice President, and they had given him a contingency of, well, if you can prove yourself over the next six months, thenyou know. And this is the story Ger shared with me from Ron, through Ger, rather. If he could prove himself to Ron DePinho over the next six months, then they would do it, whereas Gerard was kind of like me. He felt like he had already proven himself. So if that's thehe wasn't willing. So he left. Well, that left Buchholz in a predicament, because your partner, the person that is to be your partnerit would be like Trump not having Pence as a Vice President, is what it would be like. And somebody's got to step up into that role while Buchholz was learning the role. It's exactly like that. Trump, who has no background in government, and Pence who is government. Buchholz who had no background in Clinical Operations, Ger who was Clinical Operations, Burke's right hand, gone. The next person has to step up and be that for him, while you carry out the rest of your role that would keepjust keeps him afloat, keeps him going. I was filling in. So it changed. It was different in that regard. But it alsowhat came out of that for me, and I think what became, I was going to say, problematic for Bob. But it showed me that I could do more. And thatand to be boxed into a role that was less than even what I had been doing would no longer be sufficient for me. Yeah. So it was like kicking into high gear, really high gear. Then when Bob came in, him wanting to kick you back into, maybe, first gear. And that just couldn't happen.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD :
Yeah. What were kind of the landmarks during that period in terms of projects you worked on?
Wenonah Ecung, PhD:
Well, that took a different feel too, because Buchholz was learning. Our projects really kind of stopped. He was developing some sense of the land at that point; what were the problems, what were the concerns. We really didn't have the projects. So this was reallyaside from taking on Ger's portion of Clinical Operations, it was really just running the day-to-day operations. And we had, for Tom Buchholz, a new president. And there was so much going on. We had somewhat of a new president. We had Dan Fontaine, who we weren't sure if he waswas he really the president? Was what we were doing the wishes of the president? So we had another entity that was inserted and that caused some confusion, I think, for the EVPs. But the day-to-day things like faculty salaries, faculty evaluations, making sure our EVPs were prepared for these things, working with our Facilities people. Making sure that clinical Facilities were being designed, renovatedthose things continued. That was my role on the Clin Op side, it was Maureen's role on the Research side. Those things just continued. So my first two years was different in that I was picking up the broader scope of what Ger had, but it was also routine in that I had a new EVP, and the day-to-day continued. I guess the only real project I had during that time was our faculty lounge. Tom was, probably still is, a big cheerleader of faculty and wanted them to have private space to convene. So one of the things I did was work with Facilities to look at the various spaces, look at the cost. Like, did we want to put it on top of the library, which was going to be a million dollar build-out? Or was there space within the institution that we could do it, that would be central? And my recommendation ended up being an area that had been used for Telecom or Blackberry services. We took that area, renovated it, and before I left, it turned out to be a great success. We had over 300 Faculty entering each day at different points in time. We had wine and cheese on Friday that we served. And it becamewhat started out as a project became my ongoing oversight of the area, checking on it. When I would come in, I'd make a detour to see, had Housekeeping been in? Was the fruit laid out? Did we have the right types of nuts? And if we didn't, once I got up to the office, we were placing calls to make sure it was handled. So that was the onlyand that, for me, was minor. But it was fun. But it was minor.
Recommended Citation
Ecung, Wenonah B. PhD and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 14: Vice President of Clinical Operations, and a New Working Environment" (2017). Interview Chapters. 702.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/702
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