His interest in biology and in dealing with people were the fundamental reasons that led Dr. Jose Maria Vieitez to choose this profession. A few months ago he decided to embark on a new professional path as head of the Digestive Tumors Section of the Medical Oncology Service at MD Anderson Cancer Center Madrid – Hospiten, the hospital where he would like to finish projects he started in Asturias, where he practiced his profession for more than 20 years. In addition, among his aims is to position MD Anderson Madrid – Hospiten among the leaders in clinical and basic research and in teaching.
Why did you decide to wok in medicine and specifically in oncology?
I liked to work with people. In addition, I loved biology and I already, even at that time, somehow knew the impact that the development of biology would have on medicine. However, with time I have reached the conviction that you end up liking the subject of which you have ample knowledge. I believe that ungovernable, monolithic and monothematic vocations only exist in exceptional characters. Beethoven could only be a musician and Einstein a physicist, but most people can be many things in a wide spectrum of fields.
The oncology thing came later later. I liked all medicine, but I saw the path that internal medicine had taken and it seemed to me that I did not fit there. Oncology resembles internal medicine in that it is very broad as you see many different pathologies. In addition, its field of therapeutic development that goes hand in hand with the increase in knowledge seen in biology. Clinical trials were starting in Spain and that was tremendously attractive to me. I think those were the fundamental reasons.
What advantages and disadvantages does the profession have?
Medicine is a demanding profession that is exciting at the same time. It demands tremendous dedication to stay up to date. The flow of information is so great that it requires an average of at least two hours of intellectual work a day. Furthermore, as it is so multidisciplinary, you have to step into the areas of knowledge of your colleagues: surgical radiotherapy, radiology and biology.
I find he application of basic research to the patient so attractive that I read journals like Nature or Science from time to time. All that takes up time that would otherwise be for leisure, friends and family...
But, anyone who wants to dedicate him or herself to this profession can be sure of one thing, he will not be bored. In any case, this is a profession that cannot be followed without passion.
What do you remember about your university and specialization days?
They were hard times. A lot of work, a lot of sacrifice, very good friends that have remained forever ... We thought it would be impossible to get through the exam to become specialists: 25,000 applicants for 1,500 places. The fear began to fade away only when we sat the exams. In fact, my closest colleagues and I passed the exam. What’s more, those who sat other competitive exams passed them too: all the nights of cramming had paid off.
Do you have any special routines or habits before operating / facing a very complicated cancer treatment? And how do you relax after finishing a very difficult case (activities, sports, hobbies ...)?
The complicated cases are always the most exciting - the ones that make you study the most. And they are always dealt with after having been presented at a clinical session with radiologists, surgeons, radiotherapists ... In this context it is rare that no solutions are found or, at least, that you do not see a clear direction to go in.
What experience has most marked you, positively or negatively, in your career?
I think the most interesting were my first meetings with the EORTC, European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer and the ones I had with the basic researchers in Buffalo (USA). Since then, I have tried to enter fully into applied basic research, a complicated task in a country with a structure like the Spanish one.
What does it mean for you to be in a hospital like MD Anderson Cancer Center Madrid – Hospiten, dedicated almost exclusively to cancer?
It is a very attractive challenge that has come to me at a crucial point in my career - deciding whether to continue doing the same thing indefinitely until retiring, or embarking on a new path that keeps the excitement going for another 15 years. I decided the latter, although I must admit that the price on a personal level is high.
Monographic cancer centers have great advantages. We must bear in mind that more than 70% of the activity of a general hospital is associated with cancer, but the resources have to be shared with the requirements of other pathologies, many of them banal, but which require material means and attention. In a monographic center, all the care pressure is focused on cancer.
The presence of basic researchers linked to the university and that of pathologists related with the National Center for Oncological Research (CNIO) in our center is a luxury that must be taken advantage of from the point of view of health care and research.
How do you help the patient agree on his/her treatment and carry it out in a multidisciplinary way, with the joint knowledge of the professionals?
It is essential. Oncology has never been a mono-disciplinary specialty and, at present, even less so. Patients should be evaluated from a global point of view from minute one. Doing it any other way may limit therapeutic options for the future, i.e., the multidisciplinary approach is much more important at the beginning of the disease than in advanced phases, where the options are progressively limited.
What projects have you brought to the center for the coming years?
After more than 20 years at the Central University Hospital of Asturias, I have achieved certain prestige at the level of research, which makes it possible to attract clinical trials to the center. I will finish the basic projects started in Asturias from here and, if the initial data are confirmed, we would have to consider starting phases I with cerium nanoparticles. MD Anderson Madrid – Hospiten would be in first place for the clinical development phase.
MD Anderson Madrid – Hospiten must be positioned at the highest level in the field of clinical and basic research, as well as in teaching. I am accredited as a full professor by the National Agency for the Evaluation of Quality and Accreditation (Aneca) and this has to be used to encourage our teaching role in Madrid medicine.
- A book: ‘Why countries fail’.
- A journey: ‘A trip to the Ice Floe of the South Pole, following in the footsteps of Shackleton from Ushuaia
- A song / a group: ‘Searching for Sugar Man’ by Sixto Rodriguez. He’s an almost unknown singer who became a legend in South Africa.
- A food: Vegetable stew from Navarra