Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Thomas Lynch, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

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Thomas Lynch, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - There's a small circle of people who truly
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  - visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  - upper right.
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  - Hello, and thank you so much for tuning
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  - into the Becker's Oncology Leadership Podcast.
• 0:58
  - I'm Elizabeth Gregersen, a reporter here at Becker's.
• 1:01
  - And today, I am talking to doctor Thomas
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  - Lynch,
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  - president and CEO at Fred Hutchinson
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  - Cancer Center in Seattle. Doctor Lynch, thank you
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  - so much for taking the time to speak
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  - with me today. Christina, great to be here.
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  - Before I dive into my questions, I would
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  - love if you could share a bit about
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  - your background
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  - and your role at Fred Hutch for our
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  - listeners.
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  - Sure. So I, you know, I started as
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  - a clinical oncologist. I took care of a
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  - lot of patients with lung cancer at Mass
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  - General Hospital.
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  - Then I got involved in clinical research and
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  - sort of finding new treatments,
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  - for people with lung cancer.
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  - And eventually, I got more involved in administration.
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  - I became chief of oncology at MGH.
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  - I became head
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  - of the Mass General Physicians Organization.
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  - I spent three years in in industry at
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  - Bristol Myers Squibb as the chief scientific officer,
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  - and I've been enrolled here for the past
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  - six and a half years.
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  - And, the Fred Hutch, as many people know,
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  - is a spectacular integrated cancer center. We have
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  - a
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  - large research,
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  - footprint as well as a remarkable group of
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  - people providing clinical care to patients with cancer.
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  - Perfect. Thank you. Kind of
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  - listening to your background and all the different
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  - areas you've touched,
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  - when you're leading an organization like Fred Hutch,
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  - how do you kind of center in and
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  - figure out, you know, what is your biggest
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  - priority? What are you focusing on at Fred
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  - Hutch today? Well, it's a great time of
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  - year for you to ask that question because
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  - in the summer, it's when we have to
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  - get people focused on what our new priorities
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  - are, what our
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  - what our,
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  - the ones that we're continuing from last year.
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  - Well, first, listen. I think for all of
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  - American cancer, it's critical that we continue to
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  - work on improving access. And we have a
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  - project called Project Redwood, which is designed to
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  - be able to get patients to be able
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  - to see us quicker. If you are die
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  - if if you feel a breast lump at
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  - home or you're diagnosed with early colon cancer,
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  - you want to come in and see your
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  - care team as quickly as you can. So
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  - access
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  - is very important. Second thing, and, again, I
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  - think this is something that which we're dealing
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  - with,
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  - Elizabeth, across cancer centers in the entire country
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  - is the difficulty in getting clinical trials approved
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  - quickly.
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  - Meaning, our clinical trial
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  - timeline for getting a trial open is unacceptably
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  - slow. And I think for American competitiveness,
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  - it's really important
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  - that cancer centers do better at opening clinical
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  - trials quicker and being able to offer them
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  - to more patients. And then finally,
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  - all of us in cancer are concerned with
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  - how do you balance the mission, the research
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  - mission with the clinical care mission? And how
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  - do you deal with the headwinds that we're
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  - seeing? With the fact that
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  - there are many challenges
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  - to our research funding in terms of changes
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  - in the way the federal government allocates money,
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  - And we're about to see the implement the
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  - implementation
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  - of,
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  - of of, HR one, which is going to
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  - have some some implications in the way our
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  - Medicaid population
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  - is served.
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  - So I think for this year, those are
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  - things I'm keeping my eyes on really carefully
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  - because we do have a mission to serve
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  - patients with cancer regardless
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  - of their insurance status. And, I am concerned
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  - about what's gonna happen with HR one implementation.
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  - Yeah. I guess jumping off from that, you
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  - know,
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  - HR one and access and everything you mentioned,
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  - are there any sort of pressures that you
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  - think
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  - cancer centers or even oncology service lines are
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  - facing right now that
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  - aren't getting talked about enough?
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  - Well, a lot of it depends upon, you
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  - know, sort of where you are in the
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  - country because one thing about health care, as
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  - Tip O'Neil said about politics, it's all local.
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  - Health care has an element of that that
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  - makes much of it local. It depends upon,
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  - you know, what your relative payer mix is.
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  - It depends upon what the commercial payer, depends
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  - upon what your Medicare Advantage penetration is, etcetera,
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  - etcetera. I think from a health care standpoint,
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  - we've gotta find a way
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  - to continue to provide spectacular
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  - care, but we've got to be paying more
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  - attention to the cost of that care and
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  - how that care and where that care is
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  - delivered.
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  - And so some of the things that I'm
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  - concerned about
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  - are, you know, are we able
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  - do we have enough inpatient capacity? Now this
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  - is what I'm saying by local. Depends upon
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  - where you are in the country. Seattle happens
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  - to have
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  - a real shortage of inpatient beds. Now that's
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  - in light of the fact that our field
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  - is moving outpatient. As everybody knows, past twenty
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  - years, cancer care has moved outpatient.
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  - But there is still a need for some
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  - inpatient capacity.
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  - And because of the rapid growth of the
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  - population in Seattle,
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  - our our inpatient hospital beds have not kept
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  - up with the need for them. So,
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  - again, you have to deal with that. And
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  - so one of the ways we're dealing with
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  - that is trying to think, how can we
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  - stretch even more the outpatient capacity of our
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  - system to better care for patients in their
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  - homes and reduce the need for hospitalization? But
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  - even doing that, we still find we're we're
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  - up against,
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  - a lot of barriers in trying to be
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  - able to care for patients.
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  - Thank you for laying that out. And I
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  - know that kind of inpatient outpatient,
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  - balance is something
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  - I think leaders across all specialties
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  - can appreciate.
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  - I'm gonna shift gears here,
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  - and take a hard left, but I can't
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  - let you go without talking about AI.
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  - So I'd love to hear kind of what
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  - your mindset is around AI and the technology
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  - right now.
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  - You know, some leaders talk about
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  - how it's genuinely changing care, others feel, you
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  - know, maybe the hype is
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  - overblown.
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  - You know, there's the safety concerns that are
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  - top of mind for everyone.
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  - What's kind of the AI mindset at Fred
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  - Hutch for you right now? So I that's
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  - a great question, Elizabeth. Thank you for asking
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  - about AI. I'd say a couple things. Number
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  - one is
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  - AI is with us whether we want it
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  - to be or not. You can't choose not
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  - to, quote, unquote, do AI. So I happen
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  - to be a big believer that AI is
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  - going to help us tremendously in medicine, but
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  - it's not all the way there yet. And
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  - it needs a lot of refining before we're
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  - gonna find that AI is able to do,
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  - the kind of things we need to do.
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  - There are three areas I think of for
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  - AI. The first is simply administrative.
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  - Okay? The fact that
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  - when we prepare,
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  - rebuttals to insurance companies to be able to
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  - get,
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  - coverage of of of items and to get
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  - prior authorization,
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  - AI will allow us to be able to
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  - gather complex information
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  - relatively quickly and make administrative
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  - tasks easier. It will also help the insurance
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  - companies as well, the payers, because there'll be
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  - a there'll be a, ability for them to
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  - use AI programs as well. So you're gonna
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  - see a lot of, I hope, business administrative
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  - simplicity that comes out of AI. The second
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  - is in the research realm. Now remember, the
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  - Fred Hutch is a large research area.
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  - Our scientists are using AI every day to
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  - understand protein structure, to predict how an inhibitor
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  - might actually fit into the groove of an
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  - active enzyme that they're trying to,
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  - that they're trying to target. So AI is
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  - hitting the labs every single day and making
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  - a big difference. And then finally, there's the
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  - patient facing part of AI. Meaning, we would
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  - love for AI products to be able to
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  - simplify the scheduling of appointments,
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  - to make it easier for patients to access
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  - their care,
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  - to make it easier for patients to deal
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  - with many of the the headaches that cancer
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  - patients feel face every single day. Now if
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  - you ask me, is it
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  - ready for prime time today? I'd say many
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  - of these products are
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  - terrific, but many of them are overhyped, and
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  - we we need to perfect them. Now with
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  - that said, anyone who uses ChatGPT
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  - or Claude or Gemini
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  - has detected the difference in quality of those
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  - products over the past two years. Two years
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  - ago, those things couldn't do anything for me.
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  - Now they're remarkably better when I use them.
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  - And I think you're gonna see that level
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  - of improvement
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  - for many of the AI products. And I
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  - predict that in two to three years, it
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  - will be unusual
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  - for us not to be using AI to
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  - augment,
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  - the people who work in cancer care and
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  - in cancer research.
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  - Perfect. Thank you for laying that out. I
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  - I think all three of those avenues are
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  - are so interesting, and I'm excited to kind
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  - of keep an eye on what comes out
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  - and what comes next.
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  - Speaking of what comes next, though,
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  - when you think of the next generation
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  - of oncology leaders, so either joining the field
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  - or working their way up,
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  - is there any sort of challenge that you
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  - think
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  - the field today isn't fully tackling and that
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  - maybe the next generation
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  - of oncology leaders, cancer care providers,
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  - that it's gonna be in their hands to
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  - solve?
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  - Well, I think I think, Elizabeth, that's a
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  - great question, and I, I have the benefit
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  - right now. I I'm attending on our service
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  - at Harborview on the oncology the Fred Hutch
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  - oncology service at Harborview.
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  - And I'm working with a medical student, a
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  - terrific resident, and a wonderful fellow. The good
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  - news is the future of the health care
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  - and oncology workforce is really strong if these
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  - three people are any example of the kind
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  - of folks we have coming along. I have
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  - no doubt that we're gonna have dedicated, committed,
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  - brilliant people. I would say this, the knowledge
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  - base
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  - of our trainees now compared to when I
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  - trained, oh my god. It's remarkable
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  - how much better this group of people will
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  - be in terms of their knowledge. I think
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  - the challenge will be I think the challenge
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  - of any multi generational workforce, and I think
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  - we're seeing this whether you're dealing with tech
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  - or whether you're dealing with retail or whether
• 10:42
  - you're in government or whether you're in health
• 10:44
  - care, which is I I think there's a
• 10:46
  - lot of pressures and issues on on Gen
• 10:48
  - z and millennials that are different than what
• 10:51
  - the baby boomers and, and and, and other
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  - generations have faced, Gen x faced before this.
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  - So
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  - recognizing some of those multigenerational
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  - pressures,
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  - I think, is something that I would not
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  - have guessed years ago.
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  - And k. You know, so so I think
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  - that that will be a challenge for how
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  - we how we integrate that workforce.
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  - But don't worry. The the the people are
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  - absolutely
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  - fantastic.
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  - It's just a question of us finding out
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  - how to make their work experience,
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  - optimal for them as well and for our
• 11:24
  - patients.
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  - Absolutely. And I feel like we could do
• 11:28
  - a whole podcast episode just on that We
• 11:30
  - could. Probably,
• 11:32
  - and it would get lots of interest.
• 11:34
  - But
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  - on top of, you know, the next generation
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  - kind of of the oncology workforce,
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  - What else is giving you hope about the
• 11:43
  - future of cancer care right now when you
• 11:45
  - look kind of to the horizon?
• 11:47
  - Well, I think it would be crazy if
• 11:49
  - I didn't mention the incredible importance of some
• 11:51
  - of the new drugs that we have in
• 11:53
  - cancer.
• 11:54
  - The the new RAS inhibitor that was reported
• 11:56
  - at ASCO this year. I mean, RAS is
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  - a target that I never in my lifetime
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  - imagined we would have effective drugs for. And
• 12:02
  - we now have a drug that looks like
• 12:04
  - it's got some promise,
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  - principally because it targets the the on version
• 12:09
  - of the enzyme as opposed to the off
• 12:10
  - version of the enzyme.
• 12:12
  - But, again,
• 12:15
  - remarkable
• 12:17
  - work done by some really creative scientists to
• 12:20
  - be able to come up with a new
• 12:21
  - drug in that setting. I think the new
• 12:22
  - bispecific antibodies that we're using in breast cancer
• 12:25
  - and lung cancer and bladder cancer and myeloma,
• 12:29
  - my gosh, these look exciting.
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  - And I was just, again, talking to my
• 12:32
  - team this week about how,
• 12:35
  - cancer has never been a more exciting field
• 12:37
  - to go in to go into because we
• 12:39
  - have we have so many choices that we
• 12:41
  - didn't have five years ago. I'm not talking
• 12:43
  - twenty five years ago. I'm talking five years
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  - ago. So, yes, it's a it's just a
• 12:47
  - question for us to figure out how do
• 12:49
  - we deliver
• 12:50
  - these exciting new therapies to patients as quickly
• 12:53
  - as we can, and how do we do
• 12:54
  - it at a price point that the payer
• 12:57
  - is able to cover more and more of
• 12:59
  - these of these treatments as they go forward.
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  - Because I think that will ultimately
• 13:04
  - be a challenge.
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  - Absolutely. And, I mean, that just ties so
• 13:10
  - perfectly back to, you know, the the priorities
• 13:12
  - that you mentioned at the top of the
• 13:14
  - our conversation of just,
• 13:17
  - getting
• 13:18
  - access to patients to all this exciting research
• 13:21
  - innovation and and discoveries that are that are
• 13:24
  - out there. I can't thank you enough, doctor,
• 13:27
  - for joining me.
• 13:29
  - That's all the time we have, but I
• 13:31
  - really appreciate you taking the time out of
• 13:33
  - your day to share your insights with our
• 13:35
  - audience.
• 13:36
  - Elizabeth, thank you so much, and thanks for
• 13:37
  - the great work that Becker's does.
• 13:39
  - Absolutely. And thank you to our listeners for
• 13:42
  - tuning in to Becker's Oncology Leadership Podcast.
• 13:45
  - I invite you all to check out even
• 13:47
  - more Becker's Healthcare Podcasts at beckerspodcast.com.
• 13:51
  - Thank you again to Doctor. Lynch for joining
• 13:53
  - me today and to our listeners. Have a
• 13:54
  - great day.