Chapter: 14 Collaborations in National and International Networks

Chapter: 14 Collaborations in National and International Networks

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Description

Dr. Bodey notes that he was a member of the Southwestern Oncology Group. He also explains that between 1974 and 1978 he was part of an NCI sponsored collaboration between American and Soviet oncologists. Dr. Bodey describes going to Russia and also entertaining Soviet oncologists who came to MD Anderson. Dr. Bodey also explains that he initiated the idea of creating another NCI collaboration in South America. Several cancer centers were involved, and Dr. Bodey worked with a cancer institute in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and also a Peruvian center. He explains the impact of these collaborations. He talks about his relationship with Carlos Villejos who was a fellow at MD Anderson and became head of a cancer institute.

Dr. Bodey expresses his appreciation for the opportunity to make friends and work with colleagues internationally. He comments on the importance of these global connections and briefly compares American research with programs overseas, including Italian oncology research. He briefly talks about moving his office to the twelfth floor of the Lutheran Pavilion.

Identifier

BodeyGP_03_20130723_C14

Publication Date

7-23-2013

City

Houston, Texas

Topics Covered

The Interview Subject's Story - The ResearcherThe Researcher Activities Outside Institution Career and Accomplishments Beyond the Institution Personal Background

Transcript

Gerald P. Bodey Sr., MD:

I was also a part of the Southwestern Oncology Study Group, which most of us were part of that. The NCI had several of these focus areas, and one was the southwest, another was northeast. Then these oncologists would get together and devise chemotherapy programs, and then they would all participate in them.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

And what were some of the studies? Were there significant studies that were done through the Southwest Oncology Group that you recall?

Gerald P. Bodey Sr., MD:

No, I’d have to really think about that a bit. There were some that were effective, but I—as I say, I would have to give some real thought to that. From 1974 to 1978, the NCI had a collaborative work with Soviet oncologists. We would meet—I went over to Russia once or twice for them, and they came over to us. I remember when they came here, they were in Washington, DC, and everybody who normally was involved with the oncology program was busy with something else. So they asked me to entertain these Soviets, which I did. It was a very interesting experience, because one of them wasn’t too fond of being in a Soviet country. He would talk to me on the side about this, that, or the other thing. It was a very interesting experience. I do remember going over there, however, one time, and we were in a building—it wasn’t a very big building. They had somebody there giving a lecture to the group in Russian, and I had a translator to English. But she spoke so fast, the poor translator couldn’t keep up with her. All you could hear was this Russian gibberish, and you didn’t understand anything at all. It was really rather amusing.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

The poor woman.

Gerald P. Bodey Sr., MD:

Poor woman.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

What was the intent of that exchange program?

Gerald P. Bodey Sr., MD:

I mean, at the time, I guess, when our country was taking a position that we needed to establish good relationships with the Soviets. There were political aspects to it.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

That was really during the Cold War.

Gerald P. Bodey Sr., MD:

Yes. I don’t know who was behind this or anything, but it was, I think, just an effort on the part of us to be participants in the whole program that the United States had of trying to have some relationship with Russia. The NCI also started having a collaborative effort with South America. The way that came about was the head of the program at NCI, Franco Muggia and I were in Russia at one of the meetings and we were walking around and I said to him, “You know, Franco, we’re doing this with the Russians. Why don’t we do something with South America? I mean, they’re right down there, and they could certainly use some help and so on.” So he agreed that that was something to do. So what they did was they picked several cancer centers in South America and had one of our institutions have a relationship with them. I had had a close relationship for other reasons with the head of the National Cancer Institute in Brazil; Mosir Santasilva [phonetic] was his name, a really fine man. I was going down there anyway to his institution—the National Cancer Institute in Rio. So we had our relationship with the Brazilians. Then all these groups would meet together once a year or something. It was a worthwhile experience. I don’t know that there were many earth-shaking studies that were done, but it did help get the Latin-American oncologists better organized.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

What about the exchange with the Soviet oncologists? What did you get out of it? What do you feel you brought to them?

Gerald P. Bodey Sr., MD:

That’s hard to answer. We got to know some of their people, and I’m not so sure that there wasn’t one or two anti-tumor agents that they had developed. But a large part of it was that they got to see how we went about doing our studies in an organized fashion. It was useful to have a relationship with these doctors who were there. I don’t know that a great deal came out of it in the long haul. But again, it was sort of trying to establish relations between ourselves and the Soviets, which hadn’t been very good up until that time. They did get something out of it, and I think we got a little something out of it also. The South Americans—I also had a relationship with the Peruvian—actually, one of the Peruvian oncologists came and worked at our institution as a fellow for several years. A very good friend of mine, Dr. Carlos Vallejos. Then there were several other institutions in some other countries that were tied up with one or another of the other cancer institutes in the United States. That went on for several years.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

You’ll have an opportunity to add it when we look at the transcript.

Gerald P. Bodey Sr., MD:

Carlos Vallejos. So we had some associations with him. I still do, actually.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

Oh, really?

Gerald P. Bodey Sr., MD:

I’m not involved in that anymore, but some endeavors—

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

And where in Peru is he located?

Gerald P. Bodey Sr., MD:

Well, in Lima.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

In Lima. Okay.

Gerald P. Bodey Sr., MD:

Now, I don’t know what he’s doing right now. He had been actually the director of the Cancer Institute for a while, then I think he stepped down fairly recently. But he had had that responsibility for some time.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

And so the connection that you had with him was talking about what research you did at MD Anderson, treatments? What were the exchanges like?

Gerald P. Bodey Sr., MD:

Most of my exchanges with him were when he was a fellow under me at MD Anderson. Then when he went back to Peru, he was in private practice for a good while. So I was down there once or twice at that time. Then he became the head of the Cancer Institute, and I was supposed to go down to a meeting to receive several awards. Unfortunately, I got diverticulitis the day before I was to go, and I had to cancel. I really felt badly. He was the head for a while, and then he recently went back into private practice. He was trying to develop a strong Cancer Institute there. He is a very capable person. But this was one of the things that I greatly appreciated, and the position that I held, that I was not only trying to help people and do things here, but I got an opportunity of going around to various other countries and meeting people and making friends and so on. I was friends with some of the important infectious disease experts, like Dr. Klastersky in Brussels, and Dr. Braveny in Germany. I attended some meetings there.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

I know that people have commented, for example, on R. Lee Clark and then John Mendelsohn, both of whom had a more international perspective, trying to make those international connections with MD Anderson and institutions and researchers overseas. Why do you think that’s particularly important to do?

Gerald P. Bodey Sr., MD:

Because many of the countries don’t have the resources that we have had, and that’s not entirely true. There are some important chemotherapeutic agents that came from foreign countries. But by and large we have been doing this for a longer period of time, and we have multiple institutions around the country that are contributing to it. So we have, I think, a lot more to offer in general than other countries. But I don’t want to demean them, because one of the important chemotherapy drugs came from Italy and some others from other countries The Italians are pretty well organized. I went over there once at a meeting that they held in Milan, and they had some good chemotherapy that they were doing there in several institutions. We sort of have centered on our own accomplishments and sometimes ignore the fact that there were other countries that were doing things, too, that were important. I was in charge, for the whole United States, of a drug called Peptichemio that was developed in Europe. Unfortunately, it turned out not to be particularly effective. But it was kind of interesting to me to be in charge of something for the whole country. That didn’t happen very often. Of course, I was sad that it didn’t turn out to be a more effective agent.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

Now, how did you find out about that drug?

Gerald P. Bodey Sr., MD:

I don’t know for sure. It may have been from some time that I was in Italy, I would guess, but I’m not sure about that. It didn’t really—if my memory serves me correctly, it didn’t come through the National Cancer Institute channel. It came from the man who discovered it and through contacts that he had. Now, when MD Anderson completed the building with the Lutheran Pavilion in it, then I was able to move out of the old Center Pavilion. My office was on the twelfth floor of that building, and I was in charge of the—of course, we had one floor of laminar airflow, so again, a twenty-bed unit there. And I was some—I forget what title they gave me, but I was in charge of the whole thing there.

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Chapter: 14 Collaborations in National and International Networks

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