Suncoast Business Forum; William Dalton

The. Thing. Is. A special presentation of we do you Tampa-St. Petersburg Sarasota. There's no one exactly like you. No one has the same financial goals or cares about the same people. That's why Raymond James financial advisors have the independence to offer unbiased advice. That's right. And that's why we pioneered the idea of financial planning. You might say we're just as unique as you are. Raymond James individual solutions from independent advisors. Imagine a state of the art medical research center with a 500 million dollar budget and announces it's coming to Tampa and this research center will attract top M.D. Ph.D.s and clinical researchers from around the world. Oh. On top of that it's the fastest growing center in the nation and is ranked among the best in the U.S.. Well guess what. It's here. And you're going to meet the man who runs it. Next on the Suncoast business for. You.

Leave Moffitt Cancer Center and research institute is the fastest growing facility of its kind in the nation. It was started right here from scratch. More than 20 years ago and is now among the best in the country. Moffit has the largest blood and bone marrow transplant program in the southeast and has more than one hundred thirty five thousand patient visits a year managing a leading edge cancer hospital and Research Institute takes up passion for science medicine a passion for business and compassion for people. Dr. William Dalton brings that rare combination to his leadership as CEO and director of the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute. Bill welcome to the sun goes business for. Thanks Jeff. It's great to be here. Tell us a little bit about Moffit because I would imagine that most

people don't really know much about a cancer center like Moffet unless they need the services or a family member right to services. But tell us about the history and the growth. Well the growth as you mentioned has been phenomenal. It was founded in 1986 as a cancer hospital first. And obviously by Lee Moffat when he was speaker of the house he himself was touched by cancer. He lost friends to cancer and he wanted a facility here in Florida that would be first rate. And they didn't have to leave the state. And so as speaker he put he helped engineer and Archiv was the primary architect for creating the cancer center. So it started with Lee. He got his friends together which were incredibly supportive obviously very influential in the state. And it happened and we have been called the fastest growing cancer center in the United States. Now it's more than just the hospital though it's a it's a cancer research center. How did the two of those work together.

Let me tell you absolutely. Obviously there's a lot of work to be done in developing new treatments for cancer. A lot of work to do. Too many people develop cancer and too many people die of cancer research is the backbone to making things better. And we believe and we believe patients believe that research equals hope that things can be better. And so research is an integral part of what we do both in obviously discovery but also in taking care of people. Now the Moffitt Cancer Center Research Institute has a budget of half a billion dollars a year which makes it one of the largest businesses if you will and the entire region. Now as the CEO and director are you a researcher first are you a doctor or are you a scientist or are you a business person. I like to think I'm all three. But the real success is surrounding myself with very smart people. And I think that's a talent I have as I do that there are very very bright people in all

those areas that also support me in my respective areas. I was a researcher first after graduating from university in New Mexico I got a Ph.D. at Indiana University and pharmacology and toxicology and that's when the fire was built. I guess I learned that I really like research. I would. That's what I woke up thinking about when I worked in the lab. There were times I would never go home. I just worked around the clock. Of course I was single. No real no social life whatsoever. But I was having fun. So I like to think I'm all three but probably I was I was born a researcher. What is it about research that does that for you. I think it's the thought that you are actually contributing new found knowledge that you're working obviously very narrow areas where I was working. And but we were looking for areas that with there were questions and no one knew the answers. And so it's very exciting to think that you are

contributing new found knowledge. And I love it when I see a specialty a student recognize that they're doing that because you can see the light go on and the fire start. And but it's so it's thrilling. Let's go back a little ways. Let's talk about your youth growing up. Tell us about you where you grew up. Tell us about your family. I'm from a very loving family as you might imagine. I was born in Texas very soon thereafter. The family moved to Hawaii. My father was a pilot as well as in the Federal Aviation Agency so we moved every four to five years. And you get to see the world that way back and forth between Hawaii Texes wound up in New Mexico graduating from high school in New Mexico. Went to the university in New Mexico so I'm a lobo which is by the way Wolf and I actually decided to go to Indiana University for graduate school. I've never been east of Fort Worth

Texas. So when I told people I was going to graduate school I told them I was going to school back east and then realized that I wasn't quite there. But Indiana is a great place and wound up getting my Ph.D. in M.D. there. Well tell me about a little bit about you folks though their influence on you. My folks were Depression children and didn't have a lot. By any means especially my dad's side of the family. They were migrant farmers and actually part of their lives lived in tents. And my father never actually graduated from high school but he was a self-made man very successful man. As I mentioned he he became a pilot but he used the G.I. Bill. He was a Marine fought in World War II. Came back became a pilot and then became a flight instructor and then a self-taught got his GED and was self-made. So I think more than anything he taught me work ethic both my mother and he. And you know he they both believed in education not

having had one but realizing the value and they were as successful as two people I've ever met. So now if I had known you in high school would I be surprised to see what you're doing today. Maybe but I was a bit of a nerd in high school. I enjoyed science but I also played football. You know I'm grown up in Texas. You better play football and I love the sport. I had dreams of playing in high school. The fact that I wasn't good enough fast enough or big enough had nothing to do with it didn't Daunt my dream so I still wanted to do it but obviously wound up not doing that. And then you went on to college in New Mexico where you actually got a dual major You got a degree in chemistry and you got a degree in philosophy. Now there's an interesting combination. So how did those two go together. Sounds pretty confused doesn't it. Well it was in the late 60s so it fit the times. I was very interested in philosophy. I actually picked up that major first and I

remember going back home and talking to my folks and my dad in particular said what are you going to do sit on a hill and think which gave me a little motivation perhaps I to get into the science field as well. I enjoyed science but so I wound up just doing what I was interested in both. I wound up with chemistry and philosophy. Let's talk about philosophy a little bit. Do you have a philosopher that that you can relate to or that is your favorite or philosophy that that really rings bells with you. Yeah am mainly the Western philosophers. I would too in particular Spinoza Dutch philosopher What I particularly found intriguing. He was a rationalist and actually created the foundation for the scientific method. So there actually a lot of commonality between philosophy and science and especially in the Age of Reason and Spinoza was I thought fabulous. The other part I

particularly liked about his philosophy was he was called a pantheist which means that everything was part of God. Nothing existed outside of God. And that felt comfortable to me that that god was everything. And the other one would be Socrates. Socrates also very big in reason and logic but one particular aspect of his philosophy that I particularly like was this idea of implied contract if you if you live in a society then you are the implied contract is that you will exist according to its laws or improve or change them. You don't leave and abandon your responsibilities to society. And I think that's very important. Do you think your study of philosophy has helped you with your career and your path in life. Oh yeah I think so. I think about implied contract I think about well obviously and being a scientist I think about the scientific method and that was

really born in the era of the age of reason. So I think they have definitely impacted my thought. You mentioned earlier that you went on to graduate school you've got a Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology. What led you in that direction. Your chemistry and philosophy. But he got into this field. Well I did take a course as an undergraduate in pharmacology. Being a chemist I sort of was in that direction and the thought of making new chemicals that could benefit mankind was attractive. And so that's where that's why I wound up in pharmacology. It was a direct application of chemistry. Now after you get your Ph.D. You didn't stop there. You went on and got an M.D. and overall you've actually spent nearly 20 years in advanced education you've mix science you've mixed medicine. What draws you. What drew you to medicine and then medical research.

Yeah. Well as I mentioned my folks were very keen on education. But I must admit when I got my Ph.D. and then on my M.D. and as you said over 20 years my dad said when does this end. But the medicine aspect of it really occurred from some of my mentors that were on that helped me through my graduate period graduate school period. One of them in particular Lou Limberger had basically done the same thing and gotten his Ph.D. in pharmacology. And then he felt the need to apply it to move from the laboratory to actually applying it to humans and patients and became an M.D.. He was one of my major mentors and encouraged me to do the same thing I guess he saw some of the similar interests that we shared and strongly encouraged me to go ahead and get the M.D. so that one could basically apply some of this new knowledge. Now you mentioned mentors have mentors been important to you. I think they're vitally important. And I've been very blessed to have

several mentors in graduate school. I mentioned Dr. Limberger another one was Dr.. And then in medical school the same sort of thing especially in post-graduate where I work with Sid salmon and Brian Duree and others. David Alberts all icons in the field of cancer and cancer research who at Arizona in particular where I did my post-graduate training were incredibly influential on my career and the way to think. And so I think mentorship is is key. How how have you applied mentoring to the work that you're doing at Moffitt. Well personally as I have students I have a lab and I have graduate students and that's one of the most enjoyable aspects of what I do. I also like to think I mentor and help young people in their careers but I don't think it has to be. It has to stop. I know that I have still have mentors. I'm an older guy. Yeah but I still look at people and think what how would they handle a

situation. And so I think we continue to have mentors. I think it's a way of learning. And we do have to be careful about who we will allow to teach us. But I think mentoring is a lifelong pursuit but also we have to give back and become mentors ourself early in your career. You set up a bone marrow transplant program I believe it was in Arizona. Right. When you're out there what was your role in setting this up and how did this actually begin to move you in developing some of your business skills right. Well the bone marrow transplant unit I started in 1988 at Arizona with the intent. And the theory was the more drugs you can give a patient the more likely you would cure them. Cancer patient cancer patients and that has worked for some patients for some diseases but unfortunately not all patients. But at the time in the 80s we thought it was a real thing. And again it has worked and obviously it's still a very very important therapy that

we use for cancer. But I felt being a pharmacologist and using high doses of drugs you needed a pharmacologist to understand this and to understand which drugs you should be using what new drugs you might be able to develop. So as a pharmacologist I was very excited about that. I thought it again would be a direct application of what my discipline was and applying it to the clinical arena. So I was very excited. The bone marrow transplant unit though obviously didn't exist in Arizona. And so I had to do some convincing. I had to convince business leaders as well as clinical leaders that this was the right thing to do. And this is where I had some more mentorship. Fortunately the hospital decided that was something they wanted to do but they weren't quite sure how to go about it either. And they asked for a business pro forma and I had to go look up the word. Then when I actually said OK I think I understand what they're asking for went back to them and said I need some help here. I've never done this before and that's when the business side of things started developing

of how. And that's also when I realized you can't just want to do the right thing. You got have to find resources to make it happen. And so the business side became more and more important to me. Now several years later in 1997 you took a job at Moffet. Right. What was your impression of Moffitt Cancer Center back then. Well first of all as one of the best things I've ever done obviously. But my first impression of the Moffitt Cancer Center was first of all was only 10 years old. So frankly I hadn't really heard of it at Arizona but I had some colleagues that were here at Moffitt and they convinced me to come out and take a look. And first of all I was very unusual very very mission oriented very very teamwork and it got me. I thought if any place is going to make an impact this is a place that's going to do it in spite of its youth and in spite of its need to obviously grow. I thought the culture at Moffet was one that I wanted to be a part of because I really believed

that things could happen and I could see a passion not only of the physicians and scientists but at the of the leaders of Lee Moffit himself Ted couch Don Buchanan and others that they put this together. So when you saw that kind of passion from the top down and all all through you just knew something was going to happen good here if you just stuck with it. So I was very glad when I made that decision what role were you in when you came the first time. When I came the first time in 97 it was as the leader of clinical investigations. That was an area that needed some work. And again that was what I liked to do. And they promised me I could actually do some more of my own research in addition than what I was being able to do in Arizona. And so that was the big attraction was to come back build my own lab. But at the same time build a sort of a culture for clinical investigations. So that was the carrot. Now you also set up a department of interdisciplinary oncology right as part of the College of Medicine am I right.

That's right. As part of US effort remains part of the College of Medicine. The intent again here was to unify and Moffat has been built on a culture of interdisciplinary teams devote devoted to attacking if you will fighting specific cancers and developing specific approaches but it still did it in a bit of a silo fashion. The idea of the department of interdisciplinary oncology was to bring all the faculty both clinical and researchers under one organizational structure to enhance the teamwork mentality and culture. And I'm pleased to say it has done that and it's been become very successful very important part of the college as well. Then you left though after setting all this up putting it in place in 2001 you left you went to the University of Arizona Medical School you were a dean of the medical school. Right. Well I'm a desert rat. I grew up in New Mexico as I said. And part of me always wanted to go back there. I always thought

somehow I'm going to wind up in the desert again as much as I was enjoying my experience at Moffitt when I was asked to go back to Arizona as the Dean I thought how can I turn this down. This is a you know people strives for these sort of positions. So I was flattered and happy to do so but I also learned that the sacrifice at least for me personally is I wasn't going to be able to continue my research. It was highly unlikely and I frankly stopped seeing patients altogether. Dean there was just not enough time. And so when I lost both research and clinical practice I had some misgivings about my decision. Unfortunately Ted couch who was a key board member at Moffitt sought me out and asked me if I would consider coming back as CEO and center director and Ted couches a very important person in my life. So you stayed at the University of Arizona Medical College just basically a little over a year and all of a year shortened the half life of Dean's considerably. Mm hmm. Now

you are running. Moffat you have been since 2002. Let's talk about a program called Total cancer care right. What is that term cancer care is an approach to try to identify and address all the needs of a patient and their family. Too often obviously we were focused on treating the disease and total cancer care treats the patient because a patient in addition to having that disease has a lot of other needs. And so it's really an approach to try to address all the needs of a patient. Now we do that by integrating science because science can identify specific needs including the uniqueness of a patient's own tumor. If we study that tumor using molecular technology that is now available then we can understand the nuance and uniqueness of every individual and by understanding that then we can give the patient the best therapy for that

point in time. And so it's a very exciting way I think we believe of integrating technology into the standard of care and improving patients chance for survival. So that's a long winded answer but it's a very ambitious project basically to try to address the needs of patients and their families. You mentioned the word teamwork. How important is teamwork to you and in the delivery of health care services. It's probably the single most important concept or attribute that a center needs to have. Like Moffet we have stellar individuals we have the world's brightest people and world's most committed individuals. But if you really want to make it happen if you is to form a team of those kind of individuals all dedicated to one mission which is to contribute to the prevention cure of cancer and we

develop teams focused on specific cancers or even specific approaches to cancer. So I think it's the MacGraw it's you bring bright people together focused on one area. That's how we got to the moon and that's how we've made major advances in society those same that same concept that society uses we're using it often to win against cancer. Let me ask you about a major venture that you've actually undertaken. It's a company called M to Gen. Right. It's a new project pretty significant. What is that. M2 gin is a component of the total cancer care and that it's it's focused on the scientific aspect of using that new molecular technology. I was speaking about MTU gen will use different types of technology again to study individual tumors. And we are in the process of creating the largest database

in the world. We believe in the world anyway that will follow patients throughout their lifetime and cancer but we will study these patients and we're asking their patients are partners in this effort. Patients will are agreeing to allow us to follow them. They are allowing us to analyze their tumor so that we can determine the best drug to use for that individual and ultimately discover new drugs using this new information. But you can't do it just on an isolated patient by patient basis. You have to study entire populations of patients. And so that's what M2 Jen is doing it's creating this database that allows us to study individuals but many many thousands of individuals so that we can determine common steps or aspects of their tumor or what they're going through so that we can scientifically again address the best therapy for that individual.

So that in essence is what is too generous. And in order for it to happen we needed stakeholders. It's a very ambitious and expensive venture. There's a reason it hasn't been done before and it comes down to expense. And how do you find the resources to do it. And this is where the business side also helped in developing them to John. Let me ask you about philanthropy. What role has philanthropy played in the development of Moffitt Cancer Center. Well as you noted in your opening comments Moffit is one of the fastest growing cancer centers in the United States. That doesn't happen in a vacuum. It happens in a very supportive community. And again you asked me what what struck me about Moffit wasn't just Moffit it's this community and it's the entire statement sway it supports this cancer center. And so philanthropy has allowed us to start some of these initiatives that other centers frankly can only dream about. And it's that that

support that monetary support and others that have allowed us to create initiatives that have then blossomed. So philanthropy is key. Well Bill thanks. Thank you so much for being our guest today. Oh thank you Jeff I enjoyed it. And if you'd like to get in touch with us at the Sancho's Business Forum. Our email address is SBF at WDW dot org. Thanks for joining us. This. Is. It. Isn't. It. There's no one exactly like you. No one has the same

financial goals or cares about the same people. That's why Raymond James financial advisors have the independence to offer unbiased advice. That's right. And that's why we pioneered the idea of financial planning. You might say we're just as unique as you are. Raymond James. Individual solutions from independent advisors