A different philosophy of doing business

by Dr. Theodorescu

As I write this, I have been in Colorado for almost two weeks, and sitting behind my desk as director of the University of Cancer Center for 11 days.

During this short time, I’ve spent many hours with UCH President and CEO Bruce Schroffel and with SOM Dean Dick Krugman, MD, to share my vision of what the Cancer Center can be.

I spent two hours in Boulder with Tom Cech, PhD (Molecular Oncology/CU-Boulder) about how we can more closely align his Colorado Initiative for Molecular Biotechnology with the Cancer Center.

I’m scheduled to meet with Lilly Marks, UC Denver’s new vice president for health affairs and executive vice chancellor of the Anschutz Medical Campus.

In the fall, I’ll travel to Ft. Collins to meet with the new director of the Flint Animal Cancer Center at CSU, Rod Page, DVM, and associate director Steve Withrow, DVM (Developmental Therapeutics Program/CSU).

I’m trying to bring a different philosophy and way of doing business, to bring a more inclusive approach to what we do. It’s important to me that we all communicate and that all the stakeholders are heard. Our center will excel if we nurture the natural chemistry and synergies among our consortium members.

If I’m successful in my job, I will to inspire all the smart people in science in Colorado to work in cancer….and that does not include just biologists but mathematicians, physicists, chemists and engineers. We need to make new connections, cross classical disciplinary lines to reinvent how we do cancer research to take advantages of strengths here in Colorado in multidisciplinary research. That’s how we’ll make a difference in cancer.

Introducing Mark Kochevar, MBA
We will be recruiting a few new people. One of my first steps, with the help of the Associate Directors, is to hire Mark Kochevar, MBA, as our new associate director for administration and finance. Mark has worked as an administrator for the NCI, helped lead the University of Maryland’s cancer center and most recently developed and managed the new Medical College of Georgia Cancer Center.

Mark has the proven chops to do this job, and he has an all-star team to lean on in our administrative core. Of course, one of our resident administrative stars is Michaela Montour, MPA, who has graciously done two jobs for the past year as she led the Research Administration office and acted as the interim AD. I am grateful that Michaela will continue on in her research leadership role.

Implementing a new vision
Even though my house is full of boxes and I’ve been in Colorado for less than two weeks, I’m very comfortable here. I’m doing the same type of job I was in Virginia but on a bigger scale. Some of the things I have been thinking about for the past five years—I can now do them here.

I can implement my vision for making sure patients get the kind of coordinated care that they can’t get anywhere else in Colorado (and more about that and our strategic plan development process in a future message). I can also help put some challenges behind us that I see as having hamstrung our abilities to raise money and interact with some of clinical partners. All of this is very exciting to me.

I’m in the process of setting up my clinical practice and moving my lab from Virginia. I will continue to actively lead my lab because it’s important to me that as the Cancer Center director I keep the credibility that comes with being a working scientist and physician.

Sincerely,

Dan Theodorescu MD PhD
Paul Bunn Chair of Cancer Research
Professor of Surgery, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Director, University of Colorado Cancer Center