MD Anderson president submits resignation amid budget troubles

Ronald DePinho, MD, president of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, has announced he’ll be stepping down from the job he’s held since 2011, saying he “could have done a better job administratively, a better job listening, a better job communicating.”

“Forgive me for my short comings,” DePinho said in a video released March 8. “I regret them, but I was, and continue, to be committed to saving lives and reduce suffering, to help MD Anderson accelerate the march towards prevention and cure, particularly for the underserved. I've done my very best.”

He didn’t mention specific failures, but in January, the center announced it would be cutting around 1,000 jobs after finishing 2016 with $267 million budget shortfall blamed on the expensive rollout of its electronic health record (EHR) system.

Additionally, MD Anderson’s major project with IBM Watson to create a cognitive computing oncology product was placed on hold after incurring $62 million in costs for the center without achieving its goals.

The budget pressures didn’t affect the center’s quality, being ranked as No. 1 cancer hospital in 2016 by U.S. News and World Report.

The exact timing of DePinho’s departure has yet to be worked out. He said UT Chancellor William McRaven has asked him to stay on through the end of Texas’ state legislative session, which wraps up in May.

As for his next steps personally, DePinho said he wants to focus on the “cancer moonshot” and being more engaged in the “national cancer and health policy research” in his role as co-chair for ACT for NIH, a group seeking increased funding for research through the National Institutes of Health.

“I truly believe that this decision will allow me to better serve cancer patients here, at MD Anderson, and nationally,” he said.