the torch Spring 2015, Issue 1 | Page 15

FEATURE For someone diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, it can feel like there is not a lot of hope. The statistics suggest that this person may only have a 6 percent chance of being alive in five years. By comparison, the five-year survival rate for someone diagnosed with breast cancer is 90 percent. Baylor is embarking on a bold new path to improve the survival rate for people with pancreatic cancer by establishing the Pancreatic Cancer Research and Treatment Center at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. The center will bring translational research together with highly skilled surgeons, medical oncologists, research scientists, genetic counselors and other members of the health care team for personalized care. “We looked at our team in the clinic and in the lab, and we realized we had the necessary components to wage a strategic battle against pancreatic cancer,” said Alan M. Miller, M.D., Ph.D., chief of oncology at Baylor Health Care System. The new center is co-directed by Scott Celinski, M.D., a surgical oncologist on the medical staff at Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center, and Carlos Becerra, M.D., medical director of the Swim Across America Innovative Clinical Trials Center. Daniel Von Hoff, M.D. is serving as senior research advisor and is also the physician-in-chief