So now I can officially say that I hope everybody had a great summer. I spent the last day of summer at a golf tournament benefiting the Wellness Community of Washington. I was paired with John and Liza Marshall, and we enjoyed the beautiful weather and wonderful conditions of Musket Ridge Golf Course in Myerstown, Maryland. As always, golf won and I once again proved that my golf handicap is my swing, and cannot be measured by a number. More importantly, I was delighted to contribute to such a wonderful cause.
Earlier this week I had the opportunity to contribute as a member of the Tufts Medical Center Cancer Center’s External Advisory board. Some of you may know that I trained in Medical Oncology and Hematology there sometime in the late 20th century. Tufts and Georgetown share some important characteristics in that the University and Medical Centers are distinct organizational and fiscal enterprises. However, Tufts is considerably more disengaged from the activities of its Medical Center, and I was struck by the wisdom of having Georgetown more actively engaged in the research mission of its cancer center.
This perspective was reinforced by the Georgetown University Board Meeting last week, which included a meeting of the Committee on Medical Center Affairs (COMCA). The COMCA meeting, which includes MedStar CEO Ken Samet, provided ongoing evidence of the increasingly shared vision held by Georgetown University and MedStar with respect to cancer services and cancer research. Needless to say, I am encouraged by these developments, and look forward to sharing more substantive details in the future.
Along those lines, Lombardi is now actively overseeing clinical activities at Montgomery General Hospital in Olney, Maryland. This arrangement was spearheaded by John Marshall, and is being overseen energetically by John Deeken. There are a number of significant advantages to developing this relationship, which should advance Lombardi’s clinical and clinical research activities. Plus it gave me something tangible to talk about when I met Wednesday with Maryland-based Congressional aides at a Georgetown reception for members of Congress and Hill staffers who have connections to the University.
I was delighted to see so many people at Rakesh Kumar’s presentation titled, “PAK-Signaling Dependent Regulation of Mitosis in Cancer Cells” last Friday in the Research Building Auditorium. Rakesh’s work certainly connects to my interests and I am sure his presentation was of specific interest to many of the attendees. I look forward to opportunities to collaborate with him, and he seems open to them as well.
That’s all for now. Have a great weekend. I look forward to seeing many of you at our upcoming Sector Meeting, scheduled for Monday at noon in Warwick Evans, and Town Hall, scheduled for Tuesday at noon in the Research Building Auditorium.