Head of MD Anderson stepping down
HOUSTON
Mendelsohn, 74, said he'll remain a faculty member at the center
and become co-director of its new Institute for Personalized Cancer
Therapy, which tests therapies that target abnormal genes and gene
products found in individual patient's cancer in the hope of
revolutionizing treatment.
"I thought the time was right," Mendelsohn said. "Things have
been going very well. We've really increased our excellence in
everything we do. We've grown tremendously in almost every
parameter. I thought it was the right time for someone else to take
charge."
Mendelsohn said that during his tenure the number of faculty and
patients has doubled, the space and facilities tripled and the
operating budget quadrupled.
MD Anderson currently employs almost 18,000 people, serves
100,000 patients a year and had a budget this year of more than
$3.2 billion.
Dr. Francisco G. Cigarroa, UT system chancellor, said he expects
the first search committee meeting to be in January.
"We've been pretty good at being able to recruit successors in
six months," he said.
Cigarroa said Mendelsohn's stepping down comes with "with mixed
emotions because he's one of the most spectacular presidents the
University of Texas system has ever had," but he's also pleased
that Mendelsohn will be continuing to work in cancer research.
Before coming to MD Anderson, Mendelsohn was founding director
of the National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center at the
University of California, San Diego. He also had chaired the
department of medicine and co-chaired the program in pharmacology
at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He was known
for his research on how the binding of protein chemicals called
growth factors and receptors regulate cell function.
Since Mendelsohn joined the center in 1996, MD Anderson has seen
such developments as the opening of a building that houses nearly
70 laboratories studying topics including molecular genetics and
brain cancer, an institute to find ways to predict and reduce
cancer risk and an expanding of the nation's largest program of
clinical trials with experimental cancer therapies.
The center said in a news release that during Mendelsohn's
tenure it has earned more competitive research grants and grant
money from the NCI than any other U.S. center or university.
Private philanthropy has increased to an average of $200 million a
year and a $1 billion capital campaign has been completed.
Mendelsohn said he's excited about his new work at the Institute
for Personalized Cancer Therapy.
"I believe that in five years, this will become standard of
therapy for any patient with cancer," he said.
