Director’s Corner: Our Season of Change

Samir N. Khleif, MD
Director, GRU Cancer Center

“When you are finished changing, you are finished.” — Benjamin Franklin

It doesn’t take much, just a few steps out our front door, to be reminded that nothing in this life is permanent. The weather, for so many months sweltering, has become decidedly cooler. The road that runs outside both the clinic and research building has been ripped up so it might be built up. Even our own much-discussed expansion has started to seem like more of a reality with a construction fence going up where our new auditoriums and offices will one day sit. Life is change and change is constant.

We are fortunate in that so much of the change we are seeing, and will continue to see, is positive.

We are establishing new relationships, both formal – such as the Press On foundation and Cannonball Kids cancer – and informal such as those forged at community events such as the Pink Pumpkin Party or Arts In the Heart of Augusta. Each one is a steppingstone leading toward a strong relationship between the Cancer Center and a community that looks to it with pride and optimism.

We are establishing new protocols. This week Dr. Ted Johnson opened an innovative immunotherapy trial targeting pediatric brain tumors. This is work pioneered at the Cancer Center by our researchers and our physicians and it is changing the way the world looks at not only our research, but our team as well.

And speaking of our team, you might have noticed it is expanding. Over the past few months, we have recruited a number of notable researchers and physicians and more are in the works. We are recruited the very best talent, the groundbreakers and out-of-box thinkers that will continue to allow the Cancer Center to grow and, more importantly, evolve. Things change. Around here, happily, they are changing for the better.