Interview: Dr. Patrick Hwu

Tele-impact

The acceleration of telehealth has been ‘invaluable’ and its further integration along with other technologies is in the cards

Dr. Patrick Hwu

President & CEO – Moffitt Cancer Center

How did the pandemic disrupt Moffitt’s operations? It was a year that no one saw coming. We didn’t know much about the virus at first, so it was a huge challenge. At Moffitt, we initially reduced our level of operation but this quickly picked back up as we learned how to continue providing cancer care safely during a pandemic. This has been vitally important for our patients because the sooner a cancer is detected, the sooner it can be effectively treated. We are dedicated to providing the best possible care for our patients. We weren’t drastically affected by the drop in elective surgeries during the pandemic because cancer surgeries are, generally speaking, not optional.

What impact is the advancement of telemedicine and other technologies having in the cancer field? Telehealth has been invaluable during the pandemic as it has allowed us to keep in touch with our patients. At the height of the lockdown, we used it for around 20% of our patient visits. That has now fallen to around 10% as we have ramped up our normal operations. As we continue to grow our operations, we will definitely integrate telemedicine, and other digital technologies, further into the business. In the future, for example, we might be able to procure detailed information on a patient’s condition remotely thanks to a wearable device, while artificial intelligence will soon be able to help us predict when and where a person might develop a cancer. There are exciting times ahead.

Where are the best opportunities for cancer research? The basic science when it comes to understanding cancer is extremely advanced and now we need to translate this knowledge to our patients and their treatment plans. Moffitt has been focusing on immunotherapies — using the immune system to fight off cancers — and that includes cell therapy. This is proving to be an effective lung cancer treatment in ongoing clinical trials we are conducting. I would love to see Tampa Bay become the cell therapy capital of the world. There is a great opportunity to build a robust biotech corridor in the region.

What are Moffitt’s near-term goals and objectives? We are building a new hospital because there is strong demand for our services. We want to give more patients the opportunity to receive Moffitt-quality care. We will also continue to focus on research to get better at preventing and treating cancer. Science is advancing so fast that one day we can live in a world in which people no longer die of cancer. I really think that is possible.