Jeffrey Lee, MD, stepped into the role of chief medical executive Houston-based University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center on April 1, after 34 years with the health system.
During his time at MD Anderson and prior to his most recent appointment, Dr. Lee served in various leadership roles, including as chair of surgical oncology, vice president for clinical operations strategy execution and preparedness, chief cancer network officer and as vice president of medical and academic affairs for MD Anderson’s Cancer Network.
He recently shared with Becker’s his priorities for his new role and what he sees as the most urgent challenges facing cancer centers.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What lessons will you take from your previous leadership experiences at MD Anderson to help guide you as chief medical executive?
Dr. Jeffrey Lee: Foremost, I’m reminded every day what a tremendous asset our people are. I’m inspired by their commitment to our mission and to our patients, and by the way they embrace psychological safety and the well-being of those we care for and one another. This includes our non-physician leaders and those not directly involved in patient care.
In my experiences, I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside more colleagues in administration, finance, legal and regulatory affairs, human resources, information technology and innovation, government relations, philanthropy and development, research, strategic planning and clinical operation. Working across all these areas has been one of the great joys of this phase of my career.
Another key learning that continues to guide me is the importance of leaders listening to their employees. As leaders, we must put ourselves regularly in situations where we can do that. The best solutions to our challenges are co-created and that requires meaningful input from those who will be impacted by leadership decisions. Driving meaningful change requires that leaders can inspire their teams to act and move forward together. At the heart of this is listening, and being able to reflect on and integrate feedback from the people you lead.
Finally, it is important to pay close attention to best practice trends as well as headwinds impacting the broader healthcare industry. There are critically important lessons to be gained from the experiences and solutions other organizations have implemented, including those that take significantly different approaches. While our institution’s strength propels us as we advance our mission, we remain curious and eager to learn and further strengthen our efforts to make progress against cancer.
Q: What key priorities are you focusing on in the first few months in the chief medical executive role?
JL: A key priority will always be to ensure our ability to deliver best-in-class cancer care to our patients. This includes integrating technologies like seamless virtual care into the earliest stages of new patient encounters. We will continue to take a selective and thoughtful approach to implementing AI into our clinical workflows, strengthening the way we surround our patients with integrated care teams. We will continue to roll out advanced, subspecialized navigation programs within our service line strategies and focus on key performance metrics, including those that improve patient access and ensure more patients can benefit from our care.
Additionally, we are prioritizing efforts to plan for the future of cancer care so that we can better meet the needs of our patients. With a growing population of younger people receiving diagnoses and a growing population of survivors, we need to be able to provide care across a significantly larger geography and to provide more integrated and effective survivorship care. New models of cancer care delivery will be focused more on the outpatient setting, and we will need to partner more with primary care colleagues. We are anticipating these needs as we continue expansion in Houston and with the development of our new campus in Austin.
Q: What do you see as the most urgent challenges and opportunities facing large academic cancer centers today?
JL: While we are focused on providing best-in-class cancer care, preparing the institution in the face of uncertainty is also critical. Evolving external factors will impact the cancer care landscape, and we will work to ensure our institution’s resilience. As we plan ahead, we are considering ways to reduce costs associated with unpredictable aspects of cancer care while also advancing uniquely transformative and impactful innovation. There are tremendous opportunities to improve health by promoting more accurate and earlier cancer diagnosis, and by avoiding unnecessary diagnostics and treatment for cancer patients at the end of life, with the goal of reducing suffering.
There is also an important opportunity to improve access to high-quality cancer care for more patients. Academic cancer centers provide many of the innovations and advances in cancer care, but not all patients are close to these centers. Patients need to be able to access this care closer to their home so that receiving treatment is feasible and practical. We are building new facilities in Houston and Austin to address these needs, and we also partner with hospitals and health systems across the country to expand access, share information and collaborate to advance our mission.
