ANNUAL REPORT 2013 Conquest Mailing List
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The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center MD Anderson of Texas The University The University of Texas NONPROFIT MD Anderson Cancer Center U.S. POSTAGE Communications - 600784-30-107175-55028-21 PAID PO Box 301439 HOUSTON, TX Houston TX 77230-1439 PERMIT NO. 7052 CONQUEST Winter 2014 Address Service Requested Please change my name or address. I received a duplicate copy. Please make the necessary correction. Please remove my name from the ANNUAL REPORT 2013 Conquest mailing list. Please check the appropriate box and return this page to the address above. Annual Report 2013 45141_Cvr_.indd 1 2/11/14 5:13 AM open MISSION VISION CORE VALUES The mission of The University of Texas We shall be the premier cancer center in the Caring MD Anderson Cancer Center is to eliminate world, based on the excellence of our people, By our words and actions, we create a caring environment for everyone. cancer in Texas, the nation and the world through our research-driven patient care and our science. minds,Integrity outstanding programs that integrate patient care, ® We are Making Cancer History . We work together to merit the trust of our colleagues and those we serve. research and prevention, and through education for undergraduate and graduate students, trainees, Discovery newprofessionals, employees and the public. We embrace creativity and seek new knowledge. frontiers CONTENTS track the journey, lower the risk 4 seminal discoveries, seismic changes 16 treat the immune system, attack the cancer 28 enhance patient experience, build networks 40 From our president 2 Faculty 52 Board of Visitors 56 Donors 58 Financial and statistical data 79 45141_Txt_.indd 1 2/7/14 8:55 AM MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER Annual Report 2013 “May you live in interesting times.” t’s a saying that intends to convey despair Expansion of Our Network and Knowledge upon those living in times of tumult. Continued growth, leading to a true global network that will allow us to share knowl- IAnd with the Affordable Care Act, the edge, improve the world’s standard of care and, in turn, learn from a much broader patient decline in federal support for research and population. the acceleration of age-associated cancer incidence, these are challenging times in Transformative, Sustainable and Accountable Research health care. But given our knowledge of Fueled by the insights of multidisciplinary teams, our unprecedented research will be cancer and game-changing technologies, transformational. It will be sustainable and fueled through unique sources of revenue. it’s also an era of unprecedented opportu- We will be accountable. Our strong research portfolio and clear performance expectations nity to bend the arc of the disease and bring will drive impactful results. true hope for the first time in history. Additionally, in the fall of 2012, MD Anderson launched the Moon Shots Program with These scientific advances offer the real the goal of saving as many lives as possible, as quickly as possible. Over the past several solutions to our national health care dilemma: prevent cancer from occur- months, our world-class clinicians and researchers have proven to be up to the task, helping ring in the first place; detect it early when the chance for cure is greatest us rapidly build momentum toward significantly reducing the impact of the eight cancers (and less expensive); and apply curative therapies for advanced disease in we chose to initially target. Our ultimate goal is for all cancers to become moon shots. a precise and personalized manner. As the nation's premier cancer center, During our first-year progress report event this past October, we shared details of our we have the solemn responsibility to increase the effectiveness of care and tremendous strides in prevention, detection and treatment. Watch the press conference reduce the costs of providing such care. at www.mdanderson.org/MoonShotsProgress. At the same time, MD Anderson is a rare institution with a critical mass of Here are a few details on how far our world-class moon shot teams have come in such talent and resources that can drive a field toward new models of care delivery a short time: and research, which can alter the natural history of the disease itself. Melanoma Moon Shot I have often stated that “today, the one constant is the element of change,” Advancements in prevention and early detection play a crucial role in creating a and thus we must heed Darwin’s comment that survival depends not on future without the burden of cancer, and one achievement I’m particularly proud of is intelligence or fitness, but on the ability to adapt. MD Anderson’s role in the Texas Legislature’s passage of Senate Bill 329. We’re ready. With strategic planning underway, we’re looking 10 years ahead The legislation, which took effect Sept. 1, 2013, bans the use of tanning beds for and beyond. This past summer, more than 40 faculty and administrative anyone under the age of 18. Success involved partnerships with several other health leaders gathered to begin developing a bold, patient-oriented blueprint for advocacy organizations in the state to achieve the shared goal that will directly the future. During that process, it was determined that investing our time, translate into lives saved. Coordinating through our Governmental Relations office, effort and resources in three critical areas will position us to have the biggest MD Anderson served as the primary scientific and clinical information resource for the impact on one goal: ending cancer. bill. We're now working with other states to do the same. Those areas, which we call our Strategic Framework, are: Breast and Ovarian Cancers Moon Shot Innovative Clinical Care Women with triple-negative breast cancer or high-grade serous ovarian cancer have a Bringing medicine, science and technology together to develop custom- higher likelihood of mutations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. We’re offering genetic ized treatments in the most caring and compassionate way possible. We seek testing for these aberrations to all patients with these cancers, which will help physicians to create a seamless patient experience that maximizes new technology but tailor a more personalized therapy for them. Testing will direct patients to therapy specific remains people-focused. to these mutations. In addition, counseling, screening and prevention are being offered to family members who are at risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers. 2 45141_Txt_.indd 2 2/7/14 8:55 AM from our president Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and Myelodysplastic Syndrome We created the APOLLO (Adaptive Patient-Oriented Longitudinal Learning and (MDS) Moon Shot Optimization) program, which combines more than 1 million patients’ medical Research is being conducted to understand how resistance to an important class histories and data, research data and clinical knowledge to help determine the best of drugs called hypomethylating agents develops in MDS and how we can over- treatment decisions for each patient. come it. These drugs target DNA and kill the rapidly dividing cells without harming Cutting-edge analytics technology is necessary to make this possible. In this arena, healthy ones. Lynda Chin, M.D., chair of Genomic Medicine, Andrew Futreal, Ph.D., professor in We've also created the world’s first genetically engineered mouse model for MDS, Genomic Medicine, and our Leukemia department are developing MD Anderson’s identified new genes altered in AML and launched the development of therapies Oncology Expert Advisor™ (OEA), powered by IBM Watson. The OEA is a very targeting these alterations. And we’ve created two new classes of drugs that will powerful and useful analytical tool that can rank potential treatment options based soon enter clinical trials for AML under the leadership of our Institute for Applied on up-to-date evidence and learn from MD Anderson experts such as Hagop Cancer Science. Kantarjian, M.D., the nation's top leukemia doctor. Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Moon Shot We’re also seeing success using the body's immune system to fight cancer. Jan Burger, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in Leukemia, is leading a clinical trial to Immunotherapy represents one of the most promising advances in cancer today, test the promising experimental drug ibrutinib with or without the existing antibody and MD Anderson is the leader. The immunotherapy platform supports investi- rituximab to further understand the way both drugs work against CLL. This trial gators’ work to modify immune cells so they attack and kill cancer, and make the also will evaluate how CLL cells behaved and changed before and after treatment. body immune to recurrence. It’s already a standard of care for metastatic melanoma at MD Anderson, and exciting results are emerging for a number of cancer types. Lung Cancer Moon Shot We’ve set our sights high. Our ambitions are lofty. But the expertise and commit- With the launch of the Genomic Marker-Guided Therapy Initiative, we’re extending ment of our people give us confidence. groundbreaking MD Anderson research in targeted therapy for more effective, personalized treatment. Another team, spearheaded by Samir Hanash, M.D., Ph.D., People such as James Allison, Ph.D., chair of Immunology, whose groundbreaking professor in Clinical Cancer Prevention, has identified a promising panel of blood research is removing cancer’s ability to evade the immune system. markers for the early detection of lung cancer and is initiating pivotal validation And Helen Piwnica-Worms, Ph.D., whose pioneering research in cell division studies and diagnostic development efforts. has been turned into clinical advances. She was named vice provost for science Prostate Cancer Moon Shot and is overseeing preclinical and basic science research, as well as serving as With deep knowledge of the circuitry of prostate cancer, investigators have iden- a professor in Cancer Biology.