Feb. 8 - Recently I participated in a wonderful event where three dreams came together. The Tokyo American Center hosted a ceremony to award a young Japanese cancer researcher with a fellowship to study at the MD Anderson Cancer Center for one year. The Japan Cancer Society (JCS) launched this new training program working with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of America's best comprehensive cancer hospitals.

JCS Chairman Hakoshima told me that the society wants to help young Japanese doctors develop leadership skills and promote their research efforts in patient-centered medical care in Japan. Concerned by the decline in the number of Japanese medical researchers studying in the United States, the Society decided to launch this exchange program. The JCS financial support is made possible by the "Relay for Life," a fundraising event organized by the JCS in partnership with the American Cancer Society.

MD Anderson's Vice President for Global Academics Programs, Dr. Oliver Bogler, told me that his center's long-term mission is to cure cancer. In the meantime, the Center wants to improve cancer treatment so that patients around the world benefit from advances in cancer research. MD Anderson, he explained, cannot succeed in the mission alone. Therefore, it reaches out to international partners to collaborate to fight cancer. Dr. Bogler said that MD Anderson hosts cancer researchers from around the world because it believes that an open, collaborative, international environment will spur rapid advances in cancer research.

The winner of the fellowship, Dr. Hiroko Masuda, told me (in fluent English) that her dream has been to study with some of the world's leading cancer researchers in the United States. She said that when she worked with patients suffering from breast cancer at Okayama University Hospital, she wanted to provide the best possible care. Now at MD Anderson she hopes to study the American "team-oriented" approach toward cancer research where oncologists, surgeons, radiologists, therapists, social workers, nurses and the patients themselves all provide input into decisions on the most appropriate form of treatment.

Dr. Masuda had such a bright, engaging personality and seemed so determined to improve care for her patients that I know the doctors and researchers at the MD Anderson Center will benefit tremendously from her engagement with them next year.

I was very happy to see the progress toward realizing three dreams - that of the Japan Cancer Society, the MD Anderson Center, and Dr. Masuda that day.

This blog article is dedicated to my elder sister Fran, who is a cancer survivor.

Until next time,

Jim