Texas Urologist Will Head National Cancer Institute

A urologic surgeon, von Eschenbach directed the Genitourinary Cancer Center and Prostate Cancer Research Center at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. When his appointment was announced, von Eschenbach was also president-elect of the American Cancer Society and a founder of the National Dialogue on Cancer, a national forum and public-private partnership devoted to spearheading a national cancer agenda. The National Dialogue on Cancer was established in 1998 in conjunction through the American Cancer Society, American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, industry, and other partners. President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush chair the group, U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) is vice chair, and Tom Ridge, former Pennsylvania governor and now director of homeland security at the White House, was an early collaborating partner. Although to a certain extent, people acknowledged that von Eschenbach, a close confidante of the Bush ...