Category: Weekly post

Congratulations to our Georgetown Lombardi team that won the Hyundai Hope On Wheels contest at the Washington, D.C. Auto Show this past weekend, and to Eugene Yuan for being the lucky guy whose key started the car that he won. We are good, but this is proof that it never hurts to be a little lucky too!

On a more sober note, greetings during these uncertain times. I’m encouraged that, despite these uncertainties, so many in our community remain determined and committed to the goals we’ve set for our work as we continue to pursue the common good as people for others.

So, we wait. We wait and we work. We will do our jobs, doing everything we can to reduce the burden of human cancer. We do important work, impactful work, work that benefits our community, the nation and the world. I am proud of what we do.

All of us are pushing forward. For example, I am working on two revised grants that are due in March, and I have never been prouder of the research they describe. I refuse to believe that good work will not be rewarded, somehow, some way. It is my light in the gathering darkness.

Let’s work together to light the way and make the world a better place, this week and every week in the future, until the job is done.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

Greetings on a slightly warming Saturday afternoon. I am deliberately writing my blog early this weekend so I can devote the full measure of my sports angst to Sunday’s NFC championship game between the Eagles and the Commanders. We spent a few days in Philadelphia this week, and virtually every tall building in Center City was bathed in green lights in honor of the Eagles. Philly is not the Emerald City, but the visuals were quite impressive.

It has been an unsettling week for many of us. We are closely monitoring Executive Orders that significantly impact NIH funding and place temporary holds on vitally important and customary engagements of NIH with external stakeholders. It is very hard to know where all this is leading. Has this past week been intended to be a message (and warning) to the scientific community and academic sector?

The leadership of the university is carefully analyzing the many orders to understand any impacts, though clearly, there will be some ramifications. There will be a time for action, but until we know more, action for its own sake may well be counterproductive. We have always been resourceful at Georgetown, seeking diverse sources of support for our work. So, while we must all buckle up for the ride ahead, the roads, however treacherous, will not be unfamiliar, and we will find a way to continue our success.

Perhaps one way we can respond now to external challenges is to re-center our values. We can collectively recommit to the pursuit of discovery and academic excellence, recognize our community in diversity, deliver cura personalis, and always try to be people for others.

Make the world a better place this week.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

Greetings on a snowy winter weekend, as we gird for an arctic blast this coming week.

It was wonderful to welcome Dr. Patricia LoRusso as our in-person Grand Rounds speaker on Friday. She is an inspiring role model. Speaking of that…

At the conclusion of her presentation, I received a message that Dr. Kimryn Rathmell has resigned as NCI Director, less than one year after assuming that position. In her brief tenure, Dr. Rathmell brought a unique combination of expertise, visionary strategic thinking and empathy to her job. I simply cannot imagine a better and more effective NCI Director. We will never know the heights to which NCI might have ascended had she been afforded the customary opportunity to execute her vision. I can only hope that her eventual successor recognizes and embraces her vision and sustains NCI’s excellence for the foreseeable future.

I also hope that the impending arctic blast is not a metaphor for the future of cancer research.

Make the world a better place this week.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

Greetings on a week that has been bookended by a stormy Monday and a wintry Saturday. Monday’s storm got the workweek off to a slower start than usual, but things normalized pretty quickly.

The week was highlighted by an extraordinary event, the fourth Edward Kovach Cura Personalis Lecture. Ed was a patient of John Marshall’s, and he succumbed to metastatic pancreatic cancer after a 3 1/2-year battle. He did “well,” but not well enough, because he was not cured. His family, led by his daughter Alex Kovach du Pont and her husband, Mot du Pont, established the lectureship with the intention of focusing on cura personalis, the care of the entire person, which was exemplified by the care Ed received from John Marshall and the extraordinary team of care providers at Georgetown Lombardi.

Previous lectures (all of them employing some form of a fireside chat) have featured Katie Couric and Jamie Raskin. We decided that this year’s focus should be on cancer survivorship, a term that was rarely used when I was in training. It is now an acknowledged clinical discipline and subject of intensive research here and around the world. Our research efforts in this space are led by Dr. Nina Kadan-Lottick, who leads national efforts in pediatric cancer survivorship.

In thinking about this year’s program, I invited a longtime colleague and friend Dr. Karen Knudsen, who is Executive Strategic Advisor and Immediate past CEO of the American Cancer Society and was previously director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Karen made survivorship a central emphasis of the ACS during her tenure. I also invited Nina and a patient survivor, Nicole Faison, to be on our panel discussion.

The event was held in historic Riggs Library, one floor below Ed Kovach’s dorm room when he attended Georgetown. It kicked off with a welcome by Dr. Norm Beauchamp and then an eloquent and inspiring introduction by Alex Kovach du Pont. Then it was award time. Each Kovach event includes the awarding of a wooden spoon, inspired by Ed’s example of gifting such spoons to friends, family and others who he appreciated. The recipient is intended to be someone whose work and impact exemplify the principle of “cura personalis.” This year’s award was given to Dr. Patrick Jackson, a MedStar Georgetown-based general surgeon with an active cancer practice. Patrick is well known for his empathy and patient-focused practice style, and he was a perfect awardee.

Following that little ceremony, we had a panel discussion focusing on issues we must address to enhance the lives of cancer survivors, who will number 26.5 million in the United States within the next decade or so.

This is a good problem to have, but these people face numerous long-term toxicities, including financial toxicities, that require coordinated attention and action. Dr. Knudsen opened the discussion with an inspiring 20-minute presentation that looked at survivorship through a national lens. She made the important point that survivorship begins at the moment of diagnosis.

Then our roundtable dove into the challenges in a vibrant 30-minute dialogue, and we came away with a few takeaways:

1. Better coordination of care is needed to assure that primary care providers for long-term survivors have the guidance and tools they need to effectively monitor and care for problems such as financial toxicities, cardiac, pulmonary, neurologic, reproductive and cognitive difficulties, and so much more.
2. Survivorship care needs to be personalized to account for diseases, treatments, toxicities and social determinants of health.
3. More survivorship research is needed.
4. Patients need better support to navigate the complex post-cancer treatment landscape; and
5. While survivorship necessarily needs to be community based, the nation’s NCI-designated cancer centers have important roles to play moving forward. Universities that have expertise in public health, law and policy should be leveraged to accelerate progress. No place is better suited to do this than Georgetown.

Each of our panelists was brilliant, and having the patient’s perspective added depth and meaning to the discussion.

After the event, a small group of us decamped to the Reed Residence for a reception and dinner that capped off a truly remarkable event.

Cancer survivorship is real, it is important, and it needs to be studied to provide the fundamental basis for policy changes that make differences in people’s lives. This event was not the beginning of our efforts, but it has fueled our current and future work.

Now, I am not going to claim that this was an “only at Georgetown”-type of event, but the evening was a reminder of the wonderful power we have when we use the university’s convening power to make the world a better place.

You too have the power to make the world better this week.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

Happy New Year! I hope you had time to recharge, refresh and spend time with the people you love. I also hope you are prepared for the looming snowstorm that has shut down the university on Monday. Be safe out there!

We had a lovely holiday interlude, and I’ve had time to read three books (regrettably, a luxury throughout most of the year). The first was an older book called the “‘Athletic Gene,” which explores the interplay of genetics and training in athletic performance. It was quite interesting and did not shy away from the science. The second book is “The Last Honest Man,” an engaging biography of Frank Church, the Idaho senator who led efforts in Congress against the Vietnam War and then led a legendary congressional investigation that resulted in enhanced oversight of the CIA, FBI and other three-letter agencies. Finally, I am reading “World Class” by William Haseltine; it is a case study of the transformation of NYU’s medical center. It is a fascinating story, and I find myself taking copious notes as I read it.

This will be a logistically complicated week in D.C. The snowstorm will certainly put us into full Zoom mode on Monday, and Tuesday is likely to be a bit of slog for commuters as well. Thursday will mark the funeral service, at the National Cathedral, of President Jimmy Carter, a profoundly good and decent man, with numerous road closures and restrictions around the area of the Cathedral. Please be attentive to various directions should you choose to drive in the area before 4 p.m. or so.

However, I am really looking forward to a Lombardi-sponsored event in Riggs Library on Thursday afternoon, the Edward M. Kovach Cura Personalis Endowed Lecture. I do hope that you will join me, and invite your colleagues to do so as well.

There is no fee to attend, and all of Georgetown Lombardi and GUMC is invited to come. However, for security reasons we do need to ask that attendees officially register for the event.

This lecture was established to honor the life of Edward Kovach and to address the importance of care for the entire person, in accordance with Georgetown’s values. Prior awardees have included Katie Couric and Congressman Jamie Raskin. This year we will focus on the very important topic of cancer survivorship.

Here are the details:

Edward M. Kovach Cura Personalis Endowed Lecture
Thursday, January 9, 4:00 – 5:30 p.m., Riggs Library, Healy Hall
A conversation on “How to Make a Difference in the Complicated Lives of Cancer Survivors” with Karen Knudsen, PhD, MBA, American Cancer Society; Nicole Faison, cancer survivor; Louis M. Weiner, MD, director, Georgetown Lombardi, and Nina Kadan-Lottick, MD, MSPH, director, Survivorship Research Initiative, Georgetown Lombardi. In addition, the Wooden Spoon Award will be presented to Patrick Jackson, MD, chief of the Division of General Surgery and director of the Surgical Residency Program at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, and professor of surgery at Georgetown University School of Medicine. RSVP here.

Please make every effort to attend this important and informative event.

Stay warm, and as always, make the world a better place this week.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

I can’t believe we have come to my last blog of 2024. To say it has been eventful would be quite the understatement. The year felt like a raging hurricane, with destructive gusts such as an incredibly contentious election, the continued deterioration of public discourse, the rise of and troubling normalization of hate speech and a Middle East on fire, with collateral brush fires on so many college campuses. We were rocked by the sudden illness of our beloved university’s president and his subsequent resignation. We bade farewell to Ed Healton and welcomed Norm Beauchamp as our new EVP.

We have been securely in the eye of the hurricane and continue to make progress. We benefit from unprecedented institutional commitments to our success. None of this happens without the support of GUMC, MedStar Health or Hackensack Meridian Health. None of this happens without our superb cadre of administrators, who constantly find ways to convert lemons into lemonade. None of this happens without inspired fundraising, which will only increase in the coming years.

Our consortium partnership has strengthened in many ways, and we have laid a foundation for future high-impact projects. Our clinical enterprise is vibrant, and important investments have positioned our work in cell therapy for future success. Our clinical research portfolio and activities are strengthening, and our clinical research operations have dramatically improved. Our science is strong, our scientists are making new discoveries, and we are working together as never before. We have engaged the communities we serve in new and important ways. Our commitment to the future through our trainees and mentorship of early career faculty has never been more impactful.

I am fully aware that the external environment is likely to be very challenging in the coming few years, especially as it relates to the conduct of lifesaving research and research-inspired care. We have made the world a better place this year. Only by working together, working smartly, and celebrating the ways we can collaborate for higher impact can we succeed to the fullest extent of our capabilities.

We are on the move, and I could not be more excited about our future. As always, it’s about the people. All of us. Each of us. Everybody we serve. I am so incredibly grateful and continually humbled to have the opportunity to lead this wonderful cancer center. Please accept my thanks for how you have made us strong, and for how you will contribute to our future greatness.

Have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Chanukah, and of course a happy and healthy New Year. I hope you have a chance to spend time with your loved ones this holiday season. My blog will return on January 6.

Let’s make the world an ever better place next year.

With my profound appreciation,

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

Greeting on a beautiful and pleasantly warm December afternoon.

As you might have seen, the NCI issued a press release this past week: “In five cancer types, prevention and screening have been major contributors to saving lives.” This announcement represents incredibly important work. We are grateful for the contributions of so many researchers, including Jeanne Mandelblatt, MD, MPH, whose early screening research provided the foundation for Medicare coverage of Pap smear screening, forever changing the landscape of cervical cancer prevention. As you may know, she co-leads the CISNET breast working group.

I’m also delighted to announce that philanthropist and business executive Sherrie Beckstead and Emmy award-winning sportscaster and community advocate Wes Hall will serve as the co-chairs of our Lombardi Gala this spring. Sherrie has been a longtime supporter of our cancer center and brings a passion for our mission and deep connections with the Greater Washington community. Wes has been a major community voice and sports personality in our region for years and understands the value that Lombardi brings to people in D.C. and beyond. We look forward to their leadership in this very important fundraiser for Georgetown Lombardi.

We make big differences through our work, and letting people know about it will provide us with the fuel we need to do groundbreaking science and provide clinical care.

Make the world a better place this week.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

Greetings on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Last night, Harriet and I attended a performance of “The Art of Care” at the Mosaic Theater in the Atlas Performing Arts Center. The piece was conceived and directed by Derek Goldman, professor of theater and performance studies at Georgetown and a decorated director, playwright and producer in his own right. He has founded the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, and has developed a method called In Your Shoes, where the performances are intensely personal, but use the voices of multiple actors to tell the protagonists’ stories.

Derek told me about this show when we met to discuss how to align our shared interests in the concept of cura personalis. He has previously connected with Julia Langley, who directs our Arts and Humanities Program. The show ended today. Julia took her group of artists to the final performance.

I can tell you that I was blown away by the show, which reflects on caregiving in all of its aspects. It was deeply insightful, engaging and moving. I chatted with Derek prior to the performance; he had brought his wife and two sons to the show. Our conversation quickly turned to Jack DeGioia, who announced on Thursday afternoon that he had stepped down as President of Georgetown University after 23 years of service to focus on recovering from the stroke he had in June.

Derek, who has been at Georgetown for 20 years, praised Jack for how he understood and supported the mission of the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics. I nodded in agreement. Derek’s words made me think.

University presidents don’t usually last for 23 years — more recently, 23 months is a major accomplishment. How did Jack do it? There are many reasons, of course. He is a deeply good man, with a humility rooted in his spirituality and grounded beliefs in Jesuit and Catholic values. He is whip smart, can hold multiple thoughts at the same time, and can manage the maelstrom of competing priorities, urgencies and emergencies that are the hallmarks of any large university. Perhaps most importantly, he plays three-dimensional chess, while the rest of us struggle to develop strategies at all, let alone plan moves in two dimensions. He always keeps the larger strategic priorities in mind, and resists the urge to make purely tactical moves in response to the urgency of the moment; rather, he acts when he is ready, and then does so with conviction.

He has shepherded the university through two worldwide financial crises, the COVID pandemic, the revelations about Georgetown’s sorry history with enslaved people and, most recently, through the widespread unrest that emerged following the events of October 7, 2023. Jack leaves our university in the capable hands of Interim President Bob Groves, better in every way than when he assumed the mantle of leadership. I feel very privileged to have worked for him and to have learned from his leadership examples.

Jack has always been supportive of Lombardi, and has consistently searched for ways to stabilize our cancer center and invest in our success. Over the past few years, Jack made it possible for Lombardi to receive critically needed resources that have allowed us to improve our research depth and impact, establishing a durable platform for our future success. His wise selection of Norm Beauchamp as EVP further strengthens our supportive infrastructure. It is said that success has many parents, but we should always remember that none of this happens without Jack DeGioia. Thank you, Jack, and Godspeed for a speedy and complete recovery.

A good man has passed the baton, but our race must still be run. Let’s honor President John J. DeGioia and his legacy of virtuosity, integrity and humanity by bringing to fruition his vision of a cancer center that makes towering transformative discoveries, applies those discoveries to improve the health of all, and shines a light that all can follow.

Be like Jack. Make the world a better place this week, and Happy Thanksgiving.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

It has been a challenging few weeks, with uncertain and, in some cases, concerning implications of pending governmental changes on the work we do, let alone the lives we lead. Yet, I have hope that we will find a way forward. I have never been more hopeful about GUMC, and anybody who attended the GUMC Town Hall on Thursday afternoon will surely understand why. Norman Beauchamp inspires optimism and radiates authenticity and capability. Whatever comes our way, I am confident that we’ll find a way to excel and succeed. With that in mind, I thought I would share a personal reflection that you might find interesting and illuminating.

In the next few days, the mighty SS United States will embark on her last voyage, as she is being towed from her current berth in Philadelphia, the hometown of the man who built her, to her final resting place in Florida, where she will be sunk to become an aquatic skeleton for a coral reef. It is an environmentally noble but ignominious end for such a magnificent creation.

The SS United States was built after World War II, designed to be fireproof and suitable as a troop carrier in the event of World War III. It was the fastest passenger liner ever built, and it could cross the Atlantic in just under four days. It was the glamorous, high-tech 53,300-ton American alternative to the mighty Cunard Lines flagships, the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary. Celebrities clamored to make the trip, and many did. Our family did too (but certainly not in First Class!). We traveled to Belgium when I was 6 years old so my brother and I could meet my grandparents. We spent the better part of one summer there. When we returned, I was known in my school as the little boy who had been to Europe. I was an exotic world traveler at a time when international travel was rare and terribly expensive.

It was a heady time; America was a colossus astride the world, and the SS United States was its aquatic manifestation. I remember getting into a debate with my much older Belgian cousin about the relative populations of China and the United States. I found it inconceivable that America was not the biggest, best and at the top of everything that mattered in the world. I guess that my boasting made me a classic Ugly American, but in my defense, I was only a child.

The SS United States became a bit of an obsession for me over the next few years. I memorized its key specifications. I would spend hours drawing painstaking versions of the ship, and I built model ship replicas as well. But over time, the glamour of ocean liners yielded to the irresistible convenience of intercontinental jet travel, and ocean liners, including my beloved boat, were replaced by the floating bacchanalias that are modern cruise ships. The SS United States was not suitable as a cruise ship, and eventually limped into a dry dock in Philadelphia in 1996. I nearly drove off the road on I-95 on my way to the Philadelphia International Airport the first time I drove past it back then. It was my “Remembrance of Things Past,” and that ship was my very own enormous madeleine. Since that time, various champions and foundations have attempted to repurpose and save her. No dice. So down she goes.

The metaphorical irony is not lost on me. This mighty symbol — indeed the namesake — of the zenith of the American century, and all it represented — power, freedom, progress, science, the arts, democracy itself — is being sunk. Only a few people will notice or care. But I do. I care about my ship, my country and the values I hold dear. I can’t stop that boat from sinking, but there is still time for our country to rediscover its best self. I know that I will do my part as best I can. Certainly I will do the best work I can to reduce the burden of human cancer here and everywhere.

Make the world a better place this week, and keep your head above water.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.

Tuesday’s election has important implications for all of us. The people have spoken and have spoken clearly. Many of our colleagues are grieving, while others are pleased. Our early career trainees and faculty worry about a seemingly uncertain future for science, but all we can control is what we do. Cancer has not decided to take the day off, let alone the next election cycle. We have important work to do, and do it we will.

We must be unified, powerful and effective advocates for science, patient care, community welfare and an equitable, diverse cancer research and cancer care workforce. Most importantly, we must make progress, and inspire our early career colleagues to believe that they continue to have a role in a brighter future.

These are uncertain and potentially destabilizing times. The challenge is difficult, but we are up to it. We are in the business of defeating malignancies, and we have work to do, one discovery and one patient at a time.

Let’s make this wobbling world a better place this week through the great work we do.

Lou

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.