One advantage of giving a presentation on Halloween is that it may earn you a treat from the appreciative audience.
Such was the case with Dr. Stephen Prescott, executive director of the Huntsman Cancer Institute, who gave an update on the institute’s progress in becoming one of the “handful of elite cancer centers in the world” during his “The State of the Huntsman Cancer Institute” address this Wednesday.
Opened in September 1999, the cancer institute has been expanding in terms of head count, funding and patients. During the past fiscal year, the number of research and administrative personnel increased from 341 to 419, research grants jumped 35 percent from $8.6 million to $12.5 million and new patient visits from 3,132 to 3,601.
Prescott showed plans for the new $100 million Cancer Research Hospital to the researchers, donors and staff members in the cancer institute auditorium. The six level hospital, to be located immediately north of cancer institute, has a glass atrium he described as similar to Abravanel Hall and designed to elicit a “spirit of hope.”
Prescott wants to prevent an ivory-tower syndrome with the institute. He urged researchers to participate in presenting their works to the public, who may have difficulty understanding their significance.
“It’s not always easy to [explain science to the public],” Prescott said. “The public has the right to know. They’re the ones sponsoring this.”
Prescott has been pleased by the recruitment of a number of new senior leaders and promising young researchers, but the departure of two high profile investigators?Drs. Ray White and Bill Carroll?is a setback to his goal to extend the institute’s leadership in genetics.
“We don’t deserve such a good grade there,” Prescott said.
Prescott explained the institute’s personnel goals for next year will be recruitment, training and “pruning,” as he showed a projected slide titled “Individual Contributions Vary in Any Organization,” which depicted a bell curve. Prescott said the bottom 10 percent may hinder the institute’s goals.
“If we’re going to be an outstanding organization, we can’t afford these people,” Prescott said, describing them as “expendable.”
Prescott also unveiled plans for a new service line he called “a hospital within a hospital.” The line includes radiology, surgical oncology and pharmacy. He later showed a slide of the institute’s new PET (positron emission tomography) scanner, which creates three-dimensional images depicting the body’s metabolic activities.
“The patient doesn’t have to travel to L.A. anymore,” Prescott said.
Mary Beckerle, the senior director for laboratory research, presented him with a bowl of M&Ms.
“We want to express our gratitude to his spectacular leadership,” Beckerle said. “His motivating style, huge ambitions?let us make the rapid accomplishments?[to] meet our goal to become one of the outstanding institutions in the world.”