Fireside Chat with Past and Present Directors

In this special episode, Camilla Frost-Brewer held a fireside conversation with two former directors and one current director to learn what it is like to lead a National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center and how they approached the opportunities and challenges of the role. Medical oncologist Richard L. Schilsky, MD, Director from 1991 to 1999, drove initiatives to modernize and organize the Cancer Center. Cancer geneticist and cancer biologist Michelle M. Le Beau, PhD, Director from 2004 to 2021, not only helped the Cancer Center achieve Comprehensive status, but she strengthened our programs in population research and community research. Physician-scientist Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, Director since 2021, is leveraging resources, advanced technologies and partnerships from across the University network to take a pipeline of discoveries to the clinic where they can make an immediate impact. Together, they reflected on what is unique about the intellectual environment at the University of Chicago and predicted where cancer research is going next.