David H. Ilson, MD, PhD: International traveler and art history enthusiast

David H. Ilson, MD, PhD, is a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a HemOnc Today Editorial Board member.

His clinical interests and expertise include patients who have upper gastrointestinal cancers, with a particular focus on those with esophageal cancer.

His research focus includes the evaluation of new agents to treat advanced disease, as well as novel agents that can be used as part of combined-modality therapy to treat locally advanced disease.

In this Meet the Board profile, HemOnc Today spoke with Ilson about his clinical and research interests, his passion for international travel and what else he enjoys when he is not practicing medicine.

Question: What inspired you to go into medicine ?

A: This is always an interesting question. I think it was childhood experiences with my pediatrician that somehow sparked an interest in medicine. It has actually been a lifelong goal since I was a young kid.

Q: What is your greatest professional reward?

A: In terms of what I have to offer my institution, my greatest professional reward would have to be the education and training of fellows, interns and residents, and providing them a good role model — not only for patient care but also for developing an academic career. Also, trying to communicate that you have to provide clarity of expression of information and a treatment plan to patients and families, and you have to genuinely communicate with each patient as an individual and communicate with them at a level that they are comfortable with. Learning to distinguish that you cannot have the same discussion with every patient takes years of experience. The other thing that has been very rewarding has been my ability to help achieve a global consensus on adjuvant approaches to the treatment of esophageal and gastric cancer.

Q: What has been your greatest professional challenge ?

A: It has always been to balance the rigors of patient care and a busy clinical practice, while trying to maintain an academic career. I have achieved a balance in clinical trial development at my home institution and working with cooperative groups and committees to design national studies.

Q: Who do you consider your biggest mentor ?

A: At my institution, it would be George J. Bosl, MD, and Robert J. Motzer, MD. Outside of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, it would be Richard M. Goldberg, MD.

Q: W hat is the best advice that you have ever received?

A: If you make an observation or have a positive clinical trial with a new agent, then you really run with. You develop it and build upon it sequentially so that you are taking an observation that you have made and taking it as a career path direction. This is how you can build an academic career — by building upon a foundation that hopefully comes from observations you have made and work that you have done early on in your career.

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

A: I think it will be personalized medicine and identifying networks of growth pathways in cancer. We are just beginning to see this with the identification of molecular targets. The problem is that most of the cancers we treat are not driven by one target, and even if one target is expressed, there are also co-amplified and co-expressed parallel pathways. I think we need to develop an understanding of the network of growth pathways that make cancers grow and how we can identify strategies to target these networks. I think we are going to advance the field in developing drugs that will suppress cancer growth rather than eradicate it.

Q: What do you enjoy doing when you are not practicing medicine ?

A: I have a lot of interests. I love to travel — particularly in Europe — as often as I can. I will often try to mix travelling to meetings and taking some extra time for tourism. I am also a big fan of museums and art. I love to read and cook. I also am an avid exercise fan — I am at the gym every morning before work — and enjoy different genres of music.

Q: What genre of music do you listen to the most?

A: I have two sort of opposite ends of the spectrum. In terms of classical music, I enjoy Baroque and chamber music by Bach. I like piano music by Chopin and operas by Puccini, Verdi and Strauss. On the other end of the spectrum, I love trance and chill music. The most recent concert I went to was in Paris at the Opera Bastille. I saw a phenomenal production of the Opera Tosca by Puccini. It was unbelievable.

Q: W hat is your favorite travel destination?

A: I really enjoy visiting Europe. My favorite small city in Europe is Amsterdam and my favorite large city is Paris.

Q: Who is your favorite author?

A: A number of potential candidates come up. I recently enjoyed an Egyptian author named Naguib Mahfouz. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988. He wrote fictional stories about contemporary and ancient Egypt. I also like Haruki Murakami. He wrote 1Q84. He is a wonderful, vivid writer.

Q: If you had not gone into oncology or medicine, what would you have done?

A: I might have pursued music or art history as a career. I like to play the piano, which, unfortunately — due to time constraints — has fallen by the wayside. I have a real strong interest in art history. This is a second love of mine. I think some type of academic career either in music or art history would have been the alternative. – by Jennifer Southall