I am extremely excited to report that I have been offered and have accepted the permanent position of director of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center. For the past year, I have served as interim director, a process that I have found both challenging and rewarding. When approached by School of Medicine Dean Robert Rich, M.D., about becoming permanent director in July, I gave the decision considerable thought and decided that I could best serve the Cancer Center by accepting the job.

It is a great honor and privilege for me to serve as Cancer Center director, particularly following in the steps of our previous directors, Albert LoBuglio, M.D., and John Durant, M.D., who are both giants in the field. To provide leadership in an institution and state that have been my “home” is an exceptional opportunity for me personally.

Having been interim director for a year and a member of the Cancer Center for my entire academic career provides me the opportunity to “hit the ground running.” In addition, the previous success and long excellent tradition of the Cancer Center make this job similar in many ways to becoming the coach of a tradition-laden football program. The expectations are high, but the opportunities and resources are excellent also.

The leadership team and program leaders at the Cancer Center have already begun a realignment and enhancement of our existing research programs, which have been reviewed favorably by our External Advisory Board, composed of cancer experts from across the country. We will continue to work together to identify areas for targeted recruitment to strengthen existing programs and develop new initiatives that will be critical to our future success.

In addition, we have begun a deliberative process to develop more integrated, multidisciplinary and seamless systems for clinical care of cancer patients, along with support systems for both patients and their families. The leaders of the clinical cancer units have been actively engaged in this process, and we have included representatives from our Supporters Boards to ensure patient and consumer input.

Community support remains critical to the success of an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center such as ours. The Supporters Board has played a major role in engaging the community in this effort. The board has significant responsibilities in three areas: income development, communications and patient and family services. It is our intent to engage the board even more fully by using the collective wisdom of its members to help establish goals and objectives for the Cancer Center in each of those areas.

In this issue of Crossroads, we highlight several new initiatives in research and patient services. Developmental cell biology is a very promising area for helping us understand the genetic alterations that can lead to cancer. This work is led in part by Etty (Tika) Benveniste, Ph.D., associate director of basic research. On the patient services side, our new Courage Companions program links newly diagnosed cancer patients with survivors who have already experienced the cancer ordeal, serving as a source of information, comfort and friendship for these patients.

It is with great excitement and enthusiasm that I begin to serve as your Cancer Center director. I look forward to substantial collaboration with all the academic units at UAB to advance our research agenda and to engage the community in a partnership that will lead to significant reduction in the suffering and death from this terrible disease.

Edward Partridge, M.D.
Director and Margaret Cameron Spain Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology