Dr. Mills begins this chapter by sketching his blue-collar roots and noting that he was the first person in his family to graduate from college. He talks about his early interest in science, setting it in the context of broader interests. He explains that his aim in college (1975, Bachelors of Medical Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada) was to "keep as many options open as possible," which he accomplished by majoring in biochemistry and minoring in political science. He notes how this sensibility of preserving breadth influences his current strategy of recruiting broadly so the department "gains by integrating across areas." ; https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1059/thumbnail.jpg
Dr. Mills begins this chapter on the creation of the Kleberg Institute for Molecular Markers by commenting that, as an administrator, he has been repeatedly asked to develop an area and then step away. His ability in this area gave MD Anderson leadership confidence in him and he was asked to develop a proposal for the Kleberg Foundation for a Kleberg Center for Molecular Markers. He talks about the sources of funding at MD Anderson, noting that the Kleberg Foundation's philanthropy funded the Kleberg Center (which was the basis for the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy). He describes a major Center initiative of characterizing ten thousand tumors (information that fed the Cancer Genome Atlas), now expanded to include 20 thousand patients. He describes the technology used for this project, developed from an idea he encountered in a lecture. He notes, We have incredible power to leverage what we are doing. Next, Dr. Mills talks about how the focus of the Kleberg Center has shifted slightly after the founding of the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy, concentrating on discovery and on rare cancers, such as mall cell ovarian cancer. Next, Dr. Mills talks about the intellectual context for this new focus and describes the knowledge that can be generated from the study of rare cancers, giving examples of studies that have led to clinical trials of new drugs. He talks about using models to rationally select drug combinations. ; https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1070/thumbnail.jpg
In this chapter, Dr. Mills discusses the national Moon Shots initiative organized by Joe Biden in (starting May 2015) under instructions from President Barack Obama. He explains the pilot study conducted, notes the bi-partisan support shown for the initiative to date, and explains MD Anderson's interest in taking part. ; https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1079/thumbnail.jpg
For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale.
For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types.