Anderson Collier III, M.D., was recently named division chief of hematology/oncology, Department of Pediatrics for Nemours Children’s Health, Jacksonville.
In your new position, you’ll lead a team of physicians and staff at THE PLAYERS Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders. Tell me a little bit about that.
My responsibilities fall into three different categories. First is clinical. I will join a busy practice caring for children with cancer and blood disorders and will continue to provide the world-class care that is already being delivered here. Second is administrative. I will have primary oversight of all the areas of our program and that includes making sure we have the adequate staffing and resources in order to be successful. I will be responsible for not only making the budget but staying within it. And I will work to grow the program. That includes adding new and/or expanding existing programs to keep up with changing trends in delivery of care for childhood cancer and blood disorders, programs such as gene therapy for genetic disorders and immunotherapy for cancer. The third area is research. We have a long and successful history of participation in clinical trials that bring new and cutting-edge treatments to the children in this area. But I plan for us to be leaders in those efforts. We will leverage the resources of Nemours Children’s Health both in Florida and Delaware to design innovative clinical research that will create new knowledge, understanding and treatment for children with cancer and blood disorders.
Tell me about your education and professional background. I know you are a national expert in the treatment of sarcomas in children.
I did my undergraduate work and completed medical school at Vanderbilt University. Then I did my training in pediatrics and pediatric hematology-oncology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. Since completing training, I have practiced at Vanderbilt Medical Center, Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi. My interest in bone sarcomas began during my fellowship training at UT Southwestern while working with my mentor Dr. Patrick Leavey, himself an international expert in bone sarcomas. Since then, I have participated in research in this area with the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) and have had the opportunity to present research findings at national and international meetings as well as publish papers. I am currently the COG bone tumor lead on a Pfizer-sponsored study on a new medication for relapsed or refractory Ewing sarcoma.
What drew you to this particular field?
I have wanted to be a doctor since I was a young child. I was a “sickly” child and hospitalized frequently. Instead of turning me off, those experiences drew me to medicine. Then, when I was in high school, one of my cousins was diagnosed with a liver tumor. Despite years of treatment, she died during my freshman year in college. That experience drove me to pediatric oncology, a desire that only grew during medical school. I am one of the rare people who went to medical school to be a pediatric oncologist. Fortunately, one of my classmates who is still one of my close friends had the same desire. He is now the head of Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant at University of California San Francisco.
What do you like most about what you do?
That is a hard question to answer as I enjoy many things about my job. And the opportunity to do all the things we have already talked about keeps me engaged. But what I like most is the privilege of walking with kids and families through the worst time of their life. “Your child has cancer” might be the worst four words a parent can hear, and they are extremely hard words to say. But from that point, I get to develop a relationship with them. I get to know the mother, father, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, neighbors and pastors and be there for them in the hard times. Fortunately, most of the time the outcome is good; the survival rate for childhood cancer is over 70%. We receive wedding invitations, graduation announcements and birth announcements from former patients. Those always put a smile on everyone’s face. But even when the outcome is not good, the responsibility to help the child and the family through those times is essential. I still have some very close relationships with families of children who I treated but did not survive.
You and your family are moving here to the First Coast. Where will you be coming from?
I was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee. My wife is from Louisiana. We have lived in Ridgeland, Mississippi, a suburb of Jackson, for the past 10 years where I was the professor of pediatrics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
What aspects of living on the First Coast do you look forward to?
The increased access to activities, which includes the beach, cultural activities, concerts, sporting events, etc. For my son, it is paintball. He is a competitive paintball player, and there are more teams and opportunities in this area than where we came from.
How do you like to spend your free time?
I like to cook, play guitar, eat at good restaurants (fancy or a dive does not matter if the food is good), spend time with my family, play TV detective and play paintball with my son.
