BETHESDA, Maryland—The new director of the National Cancer Institute
intends to advance NCI’s role in the discovery and application of specific
targets for diagnosing and treating cancer, and to increase its interaction
with other organizations to more fully integrate and coordinate cancer research
and care.
"Our emerging understanding of cancer at the genetic, molecular, and cellular levels opens up enormous opportunities to alter disease processes at each level," said Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD. "The paradigm that I grew up with as an oncologist was to find cancer and kill it. Now we can look forward not only to eradicating cancer but also to targeting and controlling it by modulating and altering the behavior of cancer."
Forging Partnerships
Dr. von Eschenbach said the Institute would continue to forge partnerships with federal, state, and local governments, industry, and nonprofit groups participating in the battle against cancer. "The NCI can’t provide for everything that is required for a successful national cancer agenda, but it must play a key leadership role in making sure the agenda is fulfilled," he said. "Cooperation, collaboration, and integration are very important."
Dr. von Eschenbach assumed his post in January as NCI’s 12th director. He made his comments regarding his goals in an interview conducted and released by the NCI office of communications.
The new NCI chief trained as a urological surgeon and joined the faculty at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in 1977, where he focused much of his research on prostate cancer. At the time of his appointment as NCI director by President Bush, he was professor of urologic oncology at M. D. Anderson and served as the director of its Genitourinary Cancer Center and its Prostate Cancer Center.
Unlike many past NCI directors, its newest leader has never worked at the Institute. Nonetheless, he said his many years at M. D. Anderson have provided him an understanding of how a governmental system functions, and its rules, regulations, and processes.
