It’s Only Possible Here, The Campaign To End Cancer
By
Leonard Zwelling
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/lifestyle/article/md-anderson-2-billion-campaign-to-end-cancer-21169631.php
An email to “Dear Colleagues” went out from President Peter Pisters that MD Anderson had not only launched a new capital campaign, but also had raised $1.9B of the $2.5B goal already in the non-public, silent phase of the campaign. In the fiscal year 2025, Anderson raised $509 million. This suggested that the silent phase of the capital campaign has been on-going for several years. This seems rather impressive to me and kudos to Dr. Pisters.
But before I get uncharacteristically magnanimous, I have a few questions.
- Was this largely the resources of a few generous donors, or was there an attempt to raise money from grateful patients and past faculty? The attached article from the Lifestyle section, not the Science section, of the Houston Chronicle web site (NOV 14) indicated there were 300,000 donors, but how many big gifts constitute the $1.9B?
- Supposedly, this money will support elevating the patient experience with nursing and art. But what really elevates the patient experience is better outcomes like becoming cancer-free. That requires better research. Is any of the $2.5B going to support research? And I don’t mean another building. I mean helping investigators make discoveries—paying for mice, reagents, technicians.
- Well, the email says it is going to support translational research, but that needs a little bit of fleshing out. Will novel clinical trials be supported by institutional dollars? Will at least one faculty member be able to do a clinical trial without the use of pharma dollars? Will new research faculty be hired? And what about supporting current research faculty in an environment where grant dollars are ever harder to get? What is the Pisters vision for the research that really will end cancer? I can assure you that another piece of art commissioned for thousands of dollars will help no one.
- The email says Pisters also wants to expand the reach of Anderson, but franchising the delivery of the care given at the number one place for cancer care is not easily accomplished. One of the things that makes Anderson unique is the faculty at 1515 Holcombe. Anderson has been trying this franchising idea for years, with some success only in the Houston Area Locations (HALs). What more does Dr. Pisters have in mind? Will there be MD Anderson in Africa, Asia, South America? Why will this time be different from Orlando and Madrid? How will this succeed and at what price?
- Pisters is asking for employee participation. This occurred many years ago under President Mickey LeMaistre with the Fulfill the Promise campaign (completed in FY 1995-1996). We donated a fair amount of money for us back then. Is a faculty persecuted by “professionalism” and the eradication of the Faculty Senate really likely to be enthusiastic participants in this fund raising as we were in the mid-1990s? And what about us retirees? We were just at Duke Medical Alumni Weekend where there are subtle asks for support, all the time. We were personally asked by Dean Klotman to support the needs of physician-scientist trainees and the Dean’s Innovation Program. But there is an effort to display what donations lead to in the way of breakthroughs with research presentations by Duke faculty all weekend. Is that true of the Anderson capital campaign? I’m sure the Board of Visitors hears about it. Why is no attempt made to recruit support from past faculty? The accompanying video is very well made, but I was unclear how donations lead to cures. Why do I get a sense that unless you donate at least $1 million, you don’t get to dance to Willie Nelson?
I think Dr. Pisters and his leadership team still do not get it. He has successfully alienated the very people who could make his vision a reality. I can assure anyone who cares to listen that this current environment at Anderson is nothing like the one that got a wall of faculty names up in The Park during the Fulfill The Promise campaign. The names are still there, I believe.
Perhaps the non-faculty staff are inspired by the email and the video. As a former faculty member and, in theory, a potential donor, I am not. There has been absolutely no attempt by the Development Office at MD Anderson to contact us with regard to a donation. The last time I heard from the Development Office, Pat Mulvey was its leader and that was over 25 years ago. I guess my pockets are not quite deep enough for Dr. Pisters. I think he likes his donations in million-dollar increments.
So, the institution with one of the strongest retirement packages in all of academic medicine, and whose former faculty must all have a net worth in seven figures, is not systematically approaching its graduates to contribute to this effort. This only makes sense because the vast majority of the target goal of the campaign has already been reached and probably been done largely with under one hundred gifts, although I would love to know how many “big gifts” like the Kinders’ $150M made up the $1.9B.
As I have recently written, MD Anderson was once a place greater than oneself. It is no longer that after 25 years of awful leaders in the presidential suite. I wish Dr. Pisters good luck in his drive to finish off his pursuit of $2.5B. Personally, I would like to know what he is going to do with all that money and how his plan leads to better cancer survival outcomes. In fact, I would like to know what percentage of the patients that come to Anderson have their lifespans extended by the care given there. Wouldn’t you like to know that? How about some data supporting the claim that the patient care is better at Anderson than anywhere else. I believe that to be true, but data would be more persuasive.
I guess Pisters earned his millions this year given the success of his fund-raising campaign. After all, raising money is his most important job. He should at least let us know how much he contributed from his own net worth to the new campaign, don’t you think?
