The Practitioners These world-class practitioners are leading the charge to bring advanced medical solutions to the fore to improve medical outcomes. Dr. Stephen Sener Facilitating the evolution of the concepts of “quality care” and “healthcare access” into the current lexicon and consciousness is only one of the industry-changing initiatives to his credit. As president of the American Cancer Society (ACS), vice chairman of the department of surgery at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, professor of surgery at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, and a leading practicing oncologist, Stephen F. Sener, M.D., is a world-class leader. One of his most significant contributions is his work in outcomes research, beginning at a time when survival analyses for cancer were referred to as “end results reporting.” As a junior faculty member at Northwestern, he served as the volunteer chairman of the Cancer Incidence and End Results (CIER) Committee of the American Cancer Society Illinois Division in the mid to late 1980s. This was at a time when there was no formal cancer registry system in Illinois, leaving the task of mortality results reporting to the ACS and the CIER Committee. Dr. Sener and his colleagues were among the first to report disparities in outcomes within Illinois from breast, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers related to patient insurance status, geographic location, and hospital volume. This early work also contributed to the development of the National Cancer Database, which currently serves as a significant resource for the evaluation of cancer care in the United States. Now, as the president of ACS and the organization’s chief medical volunteer, Dr. Sener is working to extend the 93-year-old association’s reach on a truly global scale. With that in mind, Dr. Sener and the ACS are working in an advisory capacity with the Chinese government on a mammography program. The program, which kicked off in April, is designed to screen 1 million women using mobile vans equipped with digital technology and Web-based systems. Dr. Sener’s hope is that at the end of the five-year project the Chinese government will believe this is an effective way to provide preventive care and will make it a national policy. He spends his “free time” pursuing other international humanitarian surgical oncology missions on behalf of Evanston Northwestern Healthcare and the ACS. These missions have worked to advance cancer treatment from China to Russia to Latvia. Dr. Sener’s imaginative take on solving problems and overcoming challenges forces people to consider alternative pathways. Because he is not afraid to present innovative ideas, even if they are shot down or don’t work, those around him are inspired to take chances. Dr. Sener began his basic science research career investigating the etiology of hyaline membrane disease in neonates, helping to identify the pathway of surfactant synthesis in the Mavis Laboratory at Northwestern University Medical School Department of Biochemistry. Subsequently, as a surgical resident in the Northwestern program, he contributed to the elucidation of the natural history of radiation-induced thyroid cancer at the Evanston Hospital Thyroid Evaluation Clinic, under the auspices of Edward F. Scanlon, M.D. In addition to his career as a pioneering oncologist, Dr. Sener is a dedicated runner who helped to establish the Chicago marathon almost 30 years ago. This year he’ll run in his 50th marathon. He has devoted each race to a patient or a group of patients who are cancer survivors. As President of the American Cancer Society, Vice Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, and Professor of Surgery at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, Stephen F. Sener, M.D., is not only a leading practicing oncologist, but a world-changing volunteer. A World-Class Volunteer Dr. Lawrence Schwartz Projecting the Right Image A recognized key opinion leader in the field of medical imaging in oncology clinical trials, Lawrence H. Schwartz, M.D., is the man many pharmaceutical companies turn to when in need of consultation. Dr. Schwartz is a radiologist with expertise in CT and MRI, and his research involves imaging tumors of the liver, biliary tract, and prostate. In addition to his role as director of MRI at Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), he serves as the director of the imaging laboratory, which specializes in computational image analysis. His interests also include medical informatics, picture archiving and communication systems (PACS, for storing and displaying radiologic images), and assessing patients’ responses to therapy. He serves on the therapeutic response review committee at MSKCC and chairs the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) Imaging Committee. Lawrence H. Schwartz, M.D., Director of Magnetic Resonance Imaging at Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center, is an expert in the field of medical imaging. August 2005 PharmaVOICE PharmaVOICE 100

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