Greetings from the Director
Mays Cancer Center Annual Report
Throughout this past year, we have experienced significant progress in our mission to decrease the burden of cancer in San Antonio and South Texas. I thank each of you for supporting our efforts in cancer care, innovative clinical and discovery science research, and education.
We continued to deepen our partnership with MD Anderson Cancer Center through genuine collaboration with a goal to make the largest impact on ending cancer in the state. Within our cancer care practice, we have opened many new team-based clinics, offering careful and individualized treatment planning for each new cancer case. This team approach takes advantage of all the disciplines involved in cancer care, including surgical, radiation and medical oncologists, radiologists, pathologists and supportive care specialists. As a team, we are focused on advancing cancer prevention and screening, cancer care delivery, and supportive and survivorship care throughout our 38-county catchment area.
Our efforts in cancer research involving genome repair, early phase therapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, breast and genitourinary cancers, lymphomas and leukemias, and prevention and screening expanded greatly with many very impactful discoveries. Because of this growth, we were able to recruit new investigators, receive new grants and open new clinical trials that focused on the cancer issues of our community and region.
Our cancer education and cancer research career enhancement programs continue to grow through our deepening engagement with our new affiliate members, trainees and junior faculty. We hosted a record number of events for patients, physicians and scientists — from our globally recognized San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium with 8,000 attendees to our first Living Beyond Cancer Patient Symposium, with over 700 attendees.
Also, in 2019, we added two important recruitments with the hire of Daruka Mahadevan, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, and Mark Bonnen, M.D., chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Mahadevan joins us from the University of Arizona Cancer Center. Dr. Bonnen joins us from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Again, my deepest thanks for your continued support and dedication in helping us decrease the burden of cancer in our communities.
Ruben A. Mesa, M.D., FACP
Director, Mays Cancer Center
UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center
Mays Family Foundation Distinguished University
Presidential Chair
Professor of Medicine
