User:Mwinog2777/clark

R. Lee Clark (July 2, 1906–May 3, 1994) was an surgical oncologist and the first permanent director of MD Anderson Cancer Center.TY - JOUR AU - Balch, Charles PY - 2021/06/14 SP - N2 - The MD Anderson Hospital for Cancer Research (as it was named in 1946) incorporated pioneering changes that set new standards in hospital design, construction, and function. It is remarkable that surgeon R. Lee Clark, the new Director of the MD Anderson Hospital, and with no previous experience in hospital construction, personally led the design and supervision of a world class medical care and research facility. This is the untold story of his leadership and his diligence visiting hospitals and cancer facilities in America and Europe, his clever hiring, his supervision of the architectural firms (through 23 versions of architectural plans), his adaptability to the market when building costs were skyrocketing, and his extraordinary ability in raising enormous funds from private, state, and federal sources. He was such a creative genius in his inaugural building project that the new MD Anderson “cancer station” was described by national magazines as totally unique in its design that set new standards in cancer care delivery. With his typical determination, enthusiasm, and creative approach to problem-solving, Clark embarked on this building project in 1946 with a budget of $1,750,000, expecting to complete this project in 2 to 3 years. In fact, the entire project took 8 years and cost five times more than the original estimate, at almost $9,000,000! The process took 2 years for Dr. Clark to visit more than 30 cancer facilities and many academic hospitals in America and in Europe, 2 years of architectural planning, and 4 years of construction. When MD Anderson opened its doors in 1954, it was described by national magazines as “one of the most modern hospitals in the nation.” T1 - The MD Anderson Cancer Hospital That R. Lee Clark Built VL - 28 DO - 10.1245/s10434-021-10210-y JO - Annals of Surgical Oncology ER -

Dr. R. Lee Clark, MD

Early life

Randolph Lee Clark Jr. as born in Hereford, Texas, one of nine children. He was born into a family of educators, with both his father, Randolph Lee Clark, and grandfather having been college presidents. His mother was a musician and teacher. After his father's death he preferred to be called R. Lee Clark. After graduating Wichita Falls High School, his undergraduate studies were at the University of South Carolina, with dual degrees in chemical engineering and pre-med. He graduated from the Medical College of Virginia in 1932. Post-graduate training in surgery was at the Mayo Clinic and University of Paris. After training he was a general surgeon in Jackson, Mississippi for two years. His early general surgical experience was prodigious, with over 2000 cases during his four years at Mayo (1935–1939) and over 1200 cases in Jackson. In 1942 he commissioned into the Army Air Forces as chief of surgery at a 1000 bed North Carolina hospital with 30 surgeons under him. In 1944 he became chief of the Experimental Surgical Unit at Wright Patterson Field and Consultant to the Air Surgeon General. In 1945 he moved to Randolph Field in San Antonio as chairman of the surgery department at the School of Aviation Medicine. He published numerous articles on problems in aviation medicine and was editor of Air Surgeons Bulletin.

MD Anderson career

In 1946 after a politically contentious and prolonged recruitment process Clark was appointed director and surgeon-in-chief at MD Anderson.

Five other physicians were offered the position before him... The selection process was snafued and prolonged because Regent D. Frank Strickland filibustered for his own candidate for the permanent job. And it was not Dr. R. Lee Clark Jr. who was favored by the other eight Regents.

The center had been founded five years earlier; development was limited due to wartime induced expenses and shortages in building supplies. At the time Clark came on board, there were 22 employees; the cancer hospital was housed on the old six acre Houston estate of Capt. James Baker (grandfather of James Baker); and, research labs were in the adjacent stables. He was tasked with the job of developing what would become the nation’s first cancer hospital within a university system. Lee obtained surplus army barracks which were converted into operating rooms, out-patient clinics, labs and hospital rooms. Under his supervision the center expanded to 22 acres on donated Houston woodland in 1954 with a 310 bed hospital. Three further additions under his watch put MD Anderson among the largest cancer centers in the world. He became president of the center in 1968. When he retired in 1978 he had served as an administrator longer than anyone in the University of Texas' history. He helped shape the National Cancer Act of 1971, and served under three presidents overseeing the implementation of the act. MD Anderson was one of first three comprehensive cancer centers designated by the Cancer Act. Clark's then-novel interdisciplinary approach at MD Anderson was a model for cancer centers around the world; he felt that basic science and clinical laboratories and patient care facilities should be housed together to better integrate advances in cancer management. Among the multi-disciplinary fields Clark included in his team battle against cancer were radiation and medical oncology, epidemiology, and psychology Clark was an early proponent ofcobalt-60 radiotherapy. In 1948 an early unit was installed at MD Anderson. Multiple issues delayed delayed its first use in patients until 1954. These early pioneering efforts have been recognized to have made a leading contribution to the development of radiotherapy.

Personal

Clark married Bertha Margaret Davis, MD, an anesthesiologist from Asheville, North Carolina, on June 11, 1932. They were married 61 years; her death was a year before his. They had two children, Randolph Lee and Rabia Lynn.