New Health Affairs VP Stresses Importance of Basic Research

Studies Led to Strides in Treatment of Young Cancer Victims

PHOENIX – Without the basic scientific research happening nationwide, the amazing advances in the treatment of childhood cancer would not have been possible. That makes the research within The University of Arizona College of Medicine so much more critical.

So says, William Crist, MD, the new vice president for health affairs at the University and a noted pediatric cancer investigator.

“Every single piece of information I have given you came from a basic science laboratory,” Dr. Crist said in a lecture earlier this month in Phoenix. “Working in collaboration with some of the best scientists in America, my goal is to translate their findings to benefit patients through clinical trials. And only through that research can we change the dilemma of children with cancer, the most common health problem among children.”

Dr. Crist was the featured speaker in Phoenix and Tucson as part of the twice-annual Donald K. Buffmire, MD, Visiting Lectureship in Medicine, sponsored by the Flinn Foundation. He spoke in Phoenix and in Tucson. Dr. Crist took over his role at the UA Oct. 31, 2008.

In his talk, “Conquering Childhood Cancer – A Paradigm for Translational Research,” Dr. Crist said cure rates for children with leukemia have gone from zero in the 1960s to as high as 85 percent in some cases.

Dr. Crist is among the scientists credited with dramatically improving our understanding of childhood leukemias and their treatments. He served as director of pediatric hematology and oncology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, then as director of pediatric hematology and oncology at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis; as chair of hematology and oncology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis; and as chair of pediatric and adolescent medicine at the Mayo Medical Center, Rochester, Minn.

“Our goal now is to develop treatments aimed at the genetic differences in tumor versus normal cell counterparts,” Dr. Crist said before a crowd of physicians, faculty members and students in the Virginia G. Piper Auditorium on the campus of the College of Medicine – Phoenix. “Our hope is that this therapy is going to be more effective but less toxic and less expensive.”

Prior to joining the UA, Dr. Crist served as dean of the University of Missouri School of Medicine. In 2004, he was named MU’s first Hugh E. and Sarah D. Stephenson Dean. During his tenure he contributed greatly to the recruitment of renowned physicians, a tripling of the school’s endowment, significant increases in grant support for research, extensive construction of new labs and other achievements.

In summary, Dr. Crist said, “So we won’t have solved the childhood cancer problem until we get to this final step, where we can export this care widely throughout the world reaching all children with cancer.”
Funded by the Flinn Foundation, the Donald K. Buffmire, MD, Visiting Lectureship in Medicine continues the Flinn Foundation’s commitment to bring to Arizona leading practitioners and thinkers in the medical field. The lectureship offers to physicians, students and community members opportunities to hear from distinguished leaders in the field of medicine and medical education. In 2008, the annual lecture was expanded to a biannual basis and includes presentations in both Phoenix and Tucson.

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