Get acquainted with David H. Ilson, MD

The self-proclaimed chef talks about his favorite travel destinations and his love of art history.

In 1992, David H. Ilson, MD, joined the Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center Gastrointestinal Oncology Service. He is currently attending physician in the department of medicine at MSKCC, but he is also a professor of medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He serves on several gastrointestinal committees of national clinical research groups such as the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) and Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) and as a member of the Upper GI Cancer Guidelines Committee of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. He chairs the Esophageal and Gastric Cancer Task Force for the GI Intergroup.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not practicing medicine?

Although, I’m practicing medicine most of the time, I enjoy traveling; I like traveling to Europe, in particular to the South of France and Spain. I enjoy visiting art museums around the world. My favorite museum would have to be the National Gallery in London. When I travel, I particularly like going to smaller cities. Spending time in less traveled parts of countries you get a better flavor for what life is like in Europe.

With the high-speed European trains, cities like Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse and Montpellier in France are within easy reach of Paris and well worth the visit. In the town of Albi outside of Toulouse, the birthplace of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, you can visit the museum housing the largest collection of his artwork in the world, and then walk up the hill to visit one of the most beautiful 13th century cathedrals in France, the Cathedral of Saint Cecilia.

David H. Ilson

I live in Manhattan, but also have a weekend home at the New Jersey shore, with my home office overlooking the ocean. I enjoy spending time at the beach, both in the summertime and walking on the beach in the winter and the fall. I love cooking and consider myself a good cook. I like French-style cuisine.

If you hadn’t gone into oncology or medicine, what would you have done?

I’ve always wanted to be a physician, so I might have gone into either pulmonary or renal medicine. My fantasy career would have been as an art historian. I don’t make any art myself, but I do play piano. There’s never enough time, but when I have time, I do play; I’ve been playing since I was a teenager. Bach and Chopin are favorites. I am also an opera fan, but with my travel schedule I get to the opera more often during European travel than when I am staying in the United States.

What would you consider one of your biggest successes in your specialty?

What I consider a career success is my efforts to focus on balancing — in esophagogastric cancers — effectiveness of treatment regimens with safety and tolerance, that is, not just accepting response rates and small changes in outcome as necessarily being better therapies if they’re not well tolerated. I try to advocate for better tolerance and safety of treatments.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice I’ve ever received was that, once I have made a positive observation or finding in clinical research, to run with it and develop it in all of its facets. If I made some unique observation or trial finding, to really focus on it and develop it to its fullest and therefore try to pursue a research course that was step wise and incremental and build one study on another. This advice was from my mentor David Kelsen, MD.

Who do you consider a mentor?

David Kelsen, chief of Gastrointestinal Oncology Service and Edward S. Gordon Chair in Medical Oncology at MSKCC, for being intellectually critical and questioning.

What do you think will have the biggest influence on hematology/oncology in the next 10 years?

There are two things. One is the identification of active targeted agents, and the second is profiling what patients will benefit from what treatments by more specific measures. Whether it’s DNA array, looking at pharmacogenetic factors, or functional imaging with PET scan, that’s going to be the wave of the future.

What is the last book you read?

“The Appeal” by John Grisham. I thought it was an interesting, but somewhat frightening book about the politics of the judiciary and how, unfortunately, corporate and other influences can work their way into judgments affecting health care and patient safety.

What is the last art collection you saw?

The Shanghai Museum in Shanghai, China. What’s impressive about the collection there is that they have artifacts like pottery and household items dating back to 4,000 B.C. to 6,000 B.C.; the continuity of civilization in that country just really makes you take pause.

What is the last CD you bought?

A world music CD by a group called Biomusique, The 10,000 Steps. Before that, I bought the Mozart Opera Don Giovanni with Samuel Ramey singing Don Giovanni.

What kind of diet and exercise regime do you have?

For my diet, I try to limit absolute calorie intake and eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. I also try to work out at the gym with weights and an exercise bike at least three times per week.

What is your favorite travel destination?

My favorite country is the Netherlands, and my favorite city is Amsterdam. I like the Netherlands because the 17th century architecture is present throughout the country; the cities look like they did in the 17th century. It’s also my favorite because of the water and the canals. Despite the fact that it’s northern Europe and it’s usually raining and overcast, you get the most incredible light in Dutch cities because of the canals and the water; it’s just beautiful.

The Dutch have a strong social conscience rooted in their political and religious history, and they have an openness and frankness born of centuries of being an international trade and financial center. It is a model I think well worth emulating.

What is your favorite restaurant?

My favorite restaurant is called The Bay Avenue Trattoria, and it’s near my weekend home in Highlands, N.J. It has the best Italian food in central New Jersey. My favorite item on the menu would be any seafood dish or their mac’ and cheese, it’s unbelievable. It’s gourmet food in a home style, down-to-earth environment – by Stacey Adams