Lynch Settles Into New Role at Fred Hutch

Thomas J. Lynch, Jr, MD

Thomas J. Lynch Jr, MD, has begun his new appointment as president and director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, as of February 1, 2020.

"I have found ‘The Hutch’ to be an extraordinary place—the energy, passion, and overall vibe," said Lynch. "It is an extremely dedicated scientific culture of researchers focused on cancer and viral disease. That is one aspect I appreciate most about the place."

In 2013, Lynch was recognized as a Giant of Cancer Care^® recipient for Lung Cancer. Regarded as a "pioneer of precision medicine," Lynch has dedicated decades of clinical research to the oncology field and has been instrumental in the development of molecular testing for patients with lung cancer who harbor EGFR mutations.

In an interview with OncLive, Lynch discussed his journey in the field of oncology, his transition to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and his goals for the institution going forward.

OncLive: What has been the most rewarding aspect of your move to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center thus far?

Lynch: To be successful in cancer research, you need the right mix of 2 important ingredients. First, you need scientists who are individually and independently driven. These are people who are asking the hard questions and following their scientific curiosity to get the answers.

At the same time, you need people who are committed to team science. [These people have the ability] to work within teams to determine the overall importance of the science and how it impacts patients moving forward.

The Hutch has both this incredible independence of its faculty with a strong commitment to team and translational science. That is unique and unusual, and it is the thing I have been most impressed with.

What challenges have you faced?

[There is] the old saying, "you are drinking from a fire hydrant." There is so much information and science that I need to become exposed to. I am working hardest on making sure I learn what is happening in all the different parts of The Hutch.

We have more than 3200 employees, as well as an incredibly strong relationship with our clinical arm, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

I am very dedicated to working hard to create a culture that supports investigation and breakthroughs by learning, meeting the faculty, and understanding what their needs are.

What goals do you have for this institution?

An important phrase The Hutch uses to describe itself is "cures start here." We need to be focused on continuing to increase the cure rates from cancer.

When I say that, I don't just mean the treatment of patients with advanced cancers. Yes, we need to improve those treatments, but increasing cure from cancer will also come from profiling high-risk populations, determining which patients [require] intensive screening, and preventing precancerous lesions from turning into cancer down the road.

Historically, people have thought of cure as people already having the disease, but the concept of prevention is so strong at The Hutch.

How would you define the scientific priorities of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center?

I think about the scientific priorities of The Hutch, as well as my own scientific priorities, [in terms of] 4 crucial buckets.

The first priority is to continue optimizing the immune response to cancer as we move forward. The Hutch is one of the [first] homes of cellular therapies. It is home of bone marrow transplant, and one of the first places to develop CAR T-cell therapy for the treatment of [patients with] cancer. Both bone marrow transplant and CAR T-cell therapy derived much of their benefit from optimizing the immune response to cancer.

The second priority is to understand that we need to [stay] committed to precision medicine by continuing to explore our understanding of the cancer genome—within the patient, the host, and the microbiome that is present. Understanding this interaction [will inform] how we can deliver targeted therapies to patients.

Recently, a series of papers were published in Nature profiling our current understanding of the cancer genome. What is great about that is the accompanying commentary, which suggests that we're done determining mutations and abnormal pathways. The next step is linking that information to patient outcomes and clinical scenarios. That is a big part of what we are doing in precision oncology.

The third area is viruses and microbial pathogens. Viruses are the etiologic agent for about 35% of all human cancers. Reducing the impact of viruses will be important in terms of reducing the impact of cancer. The Hutch has a strong virology program. Understanding viruses is important from a humanity standpoint as well, as we are seeing with the outbreak of the coronavirus.

How do you look at all of this information and make sense of it? We have Amazon, Microsoft, and Google present within about 100 yards of our campus [in Seattle, Washington]. The fourth point is [to understand] how technology, big data, and cancer science intersect in a way that brings us closer to finding solutions. That is going to be an important challenge for The Hutch in the next 10 years.

What research would you like to conduct that may help achieve those goals?

We know that cellular therapies work for patients who have hematologic malignancies, such as leukemias and lymphomas. We want to challenge our scientists to understand how to make cellular therapies work in patients with solid tumors. More than half of the cellular therapies trials [open] at The Hutch are in patients with solid tumors.

An equally important question to ask is, “How do we make allogeneic cellular therapies?” By that I mean cellular therapies derived from a group of cells from 1 patient, but used to treat cancers in other patients. Right now, we have autologous cellular therapies. In CAR T-cell therapy, for example, you take a patient's own T cells, engineer them to recognize certain cancer antigens, and infuse them back into the patient.

It would be terrific to get an off-the-shelf solution for patients with lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, or colon cancer. There are a number of important obstacles that need to be overcome to get there, but The Hutch is exactly where that kind of work is going on.

Switching gears to focus more on your journey in oncology, you were part of the inaugural Giants of Cancer Care^® class in 2013. What does having that recognition mean to you?

It is an extraordinary honor to have been recognized in the inaugural class of the Giants of Cancer Care^®. Something that award has done [for oncology] is broadly recognize cancer research. That is incredibly important. Basic [scientists], clinically based researchers—like myself—translational [researchers], and population-based science [researchers] have received this designation. The breadth of who is recognized is quite extraordinary.

I have made a habit of spending my Thursday nights at the Giants of Cancer Care^® Winners Reception to recognize the next class. It is a wonderful way to kick off the ASCO Annual Meetings and recognize people who have made an enormous difference in cancer care. It is something that OncLive should be extremely proud of establishing, because it has made a big difference in cancer. I am extremely proud of having been one of the inaugural recipients.

Why did you want to specialize in oncology, and what brought you into the field of lung cancer?

My dad was a hematologist. He had an office attached to our house in Hackensack, New Jersey. At a young age, I developed an understanding of the impact that cancer can have on people. Therefore, going into oncology was something I wanted to do my whole youth, and I have done my whole career.

I chose lung cancer [as my specialty] because when I had to make the choice in 1990, lung cancer was the leading cause of cancer death. There were very few leads at that point.

I thought, “Here you have the single, biggest reason people are dying from cancer, and we haven't made any progress in it.” The unmet research need is what drove me into lung cancer, and I felt it was extremely important.

How has the evolution of lung cancer treatment impacted your practice?

My experience in lung cancer is reflected in 2 of the scientific pillars [I identified earlier] for The Hutch: immunotherapy and precision medicine.

Lung cancer has been one malignancy that benefits from checkpoint inhibitors, and that benefit has been quite dramatic. Look at all the [drivers in] lung cancer we know about: EGFR, ALK, RET, and RAS. We are developing drugs for different subsets of each. That interface between precision oncology and immuno-oncology could not be better placed than it is in lung cancer.

What motto fuels your passion to help patients and develop the research we need?

It is funny; I have had a number of rules in medicine that I have enjoyed. I worked at Massachusetts General Hospital for 25 years; it is a spectacular place. I was director of the Yale Cancer Center; it is an extraordinary academic university. I had the privilege of being the chief scientific officer of Bristol-Myers Squibb. At each of those jobs, there would be challenges that came up along the way.

An important principle that was articulated by Catherine A. Lyons, RN, MS, NEA-BC, the [clinical program director and director of oncology nursing] at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven, is make the decision that is in the patient's best interest. Keep the patient front and center in your decision-making.

That [motto] has helped me whether we are talking about drug development, resource allocation, executive decisions, or clinical decisions. I have taken that advice to heart.

What other areas of oncology would you like to see flourish in the next few years?

The Hutch is well-known for hematologic malignancies and cellular therapies. Under my leadership, we are going are going to continue to double-down on those areas. We also need to expand our expertise to solid tumors. I would like to see more emphasis in pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and gastric cancer, as those areas will become important going forward.