Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, Chairman of the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Cleveland Clinic Cancer Institute

Transcript

Jame Abraham, MD, FACP, Chairman of the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Cleveland Clinic Cancer Institute · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome everyone to the Becker's Healthcare podcast series.
• 0:03
  I'm Ryan Muhammad, writer and moderator with Becker's
• 0:06
  Healthcare. And I'm thrilled to have with me
• 0:07
  today, doctor Jane Abraham,
• 0:09
  chairman of the department of hematology and medical
• 0:12
  oncology at the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Institute.
• 0:15
  Doctor, welcome to the podcast. I'm very excited
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  to have you join us today. I know
• 0:19
  you recently did another Becker's oncology webinar with
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  me, so it's nice to speak with you
• 0:23
  again. But to get us started, would you
• 0:25
  mind please introduce yourself for the audience and
• 0:27
  tell us a bit about your background?
• 0:29
  Sure. Thank you, Mariah, for having me again.
• 0:33
  So I'm Jame Abraham. I'm the department chair,
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  for the hematology and oncology,
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  at Cleveland Clinic, and, I'm a professor of
• 0:43
  medicine
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  at the Leona College of Medicine.
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  So as the department chair or, if I
• 0:49
  can say the enterprise
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  chair of the HemOnc,
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  I'm responsible for our
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  cancer caregivers,
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  in Ohio and Florida
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  and then Abu Dhabi.
• 1:00
  Our goal is to make sure
• 1:02
  we provide,
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  the best care and across
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  our enterprise
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  for patients with cancer.
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  Yeah. Wonderful. Thank you so much for giving
• 1:13
  us that background.
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  As a fellow Ohioan that now lives, in
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  another state, I'm glad that you're doing what
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  you're doing for the state. So what are
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  some of your top priorities for the rest
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  of the year, do you think?
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  So 2025,
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  we will continue to focus on our mission,
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  that's providing the best care for our patients,
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  making sure,
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  we can provide
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  most advanced and and then new cancer
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  treatment for our patients who are coming through
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  our doors, you know, here at,
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  Ohio,
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  in Florida,
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  and Abu Dhabi.
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  To do that, we need to continue to
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  make sure we continue to support our team,
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  recruit
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  number of doctors, continue to recruit number of
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  doctors to our team
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  because
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  we are expanding our services
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  and our we continue to grow.
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  So our my number one number two priority
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  is continue to recruit people,
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  doctors, and other team members to the team.
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  And the third priority is continue to look
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  for newer
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  treatment options,
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  so that we are
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  staying
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  ahead of the curve
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  as far as the cancer treatment is concerned,
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  as standard of treatment,
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  and then, of course, in our clinical trials.
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  So, and then, of course, we continue to
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  educate. We have a you know, one of
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  the largest fellowship program in the country.
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  We continue to educate our fellows,
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  and and we have APP fellowship.
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  So we train in a huge workforce
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  to support,
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  that increasing
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  need for cancer care in our country.
• 2:55
  Got it. Yeah. Thank you so much for
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  giving us that that overview.
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  Are there any programs
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  or initiatives that have been the most needle
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  moving for you or the organization,
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  in 2024?
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  So 2024,
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  we continue to grow.
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  We saw more patients than before.
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  Some of the unique programs,
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  we introduce
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  a large number of new clinical trials for
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  our patients.
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  Most of them are first in humans.
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  So number of novel treatment
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  options came through
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  in our site, mostly at our main campus
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  in Cleveland.
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  So that is one of our biggest this
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  thing. And then our team has made tremendous
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  progress in
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  cellular therapy,
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  mainly in Till,
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  tumor infiltrating lymphocytes,
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  and, of course, and other CAR T products,
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  CAR t treatments in, heme malignancy.
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  So we are really proud of our team's
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  clinical
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  and research effort. And then if you look
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  at
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  a number of our colleagues have press have
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  published
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  journals which are, you know, really practice
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  changing,
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  across the country or across the world.
• 4:15
  Yeah. Absolutely. And and, doctor, before I let
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  you go, the last thing I really want
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  to ask you is, how are you thinking
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  about growth in member experience,
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  as a whole?
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  So,
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  again,
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  let let me rephrase that question. Again, when
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  we continue to grow,
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  we want to make sure
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  our
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  patients
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  get the best experience,
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  and has you number. I know cancer is
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  not the easiest diagnosis.
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  We want to make sure,
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  we,
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  take care of patients
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  holistically, you know, from the diagnosis to treatment
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  to supporting them physically and emotionally.
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  So patient experience,
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  is, our forefront. I know that's we continue
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  to focus on that. And at the same
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  time, we continue to support our team.
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  How do we continue to support them
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  when
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  we see more patients
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  than before?
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  And as you know, Maria,
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  the world is getting complicated with
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  genomics,
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  new treatments coming through every day,
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  and now the AI is really coming to
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  disrupt
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  the existing
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  care delivery,
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  diagnostics,
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  and even, you know, the drug discovery.
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  So how do we continue to support our
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  team
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  in this disruptive
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  environment? So we continue to focus on all
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  these things,
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  when we look for look forward to 2025.
• 5:48
  Got it. Yeah. Absolutely. That makes a lot
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  of sense. And thank you so much for
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  those final thoughts. It's definitely been, a very
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  informative discussion, doctor. So I wanna thank you,
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  for coming back on Becker's HealthCare,
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  and I look forward to connecting with you
• 6:00
  again soon.
• 6:02
  Thank you, Maria.