TWiPO #6 ~ Interview with Dr Archie Bleyer

May 26, 2011

In this sixth episode of TWiPO, Dr. Tim Cripe interviews Dr. Archie Bleyer about his career and research interest in improving survival rates in adolescents and young adults (AYA) affected by cancer.

Dr. Bleyer is the Medical Director of , Clinical Research at St. Charles Cancer Care in Bend, Oregon and a Clinical Research Professor at Oregon Health & Sciences University in Portland. He also is a Professor of Pediatrics at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston and Senior Advisor of the Aflac/CureSearch Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Research, and founding member of the LiveStrong Young Adult Alliance.

Dr. Bleyer chaired the Children’s Cancer Group for 10 years, then the world's largest pediatric cancer research organization, and the Department and Division of Pediatrics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He was the American Cancer Society Professor of Clinical Oncology and in charge of the cancer curriculum in the University of Washington School of Medicine. During the past three decades, Dr. Bleyer was awarded research grants totaling more than $75 million as a principal investigator from the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, and the Leukemia Society of America. His research has been published in more than 300 peer-reviewed articles, chapters, and books.

This is an inspiring and enlightening discussion of the progress and challenges of the past 3 decades of treating children and young adults with cancer, and an optimistic view of future improvements in survival, quality of life, and reducing late effects in survivors. Listeners are welcome to send thoughts and comments to twipo@solvingkidscancer.org