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Fighting Cancer on All Fronts
Gary Schwartz leads a top cancer center, but still sees patients and meets regularly with community members as he pursues a clear vision: 'Everybody should have access to the latest advances in cancer medicine'
Photo by Dale McDonald PhotographyGary Schwartz, director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.When oncologist and cancer therapy researcher Gary Schwartz, MD, arrived in Cleveland in the spring of 2023 to direct the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, he found his way around the city by the grace of Google maps. Two years later, you can find him everywhere: at and , where he treats patients; at an East Cleveland church, talking with clergy and community members about wellness and cancer prevention—including smoking cessation—and at the Cleveland mayor's office, discussing how the center can work more closely with the city. Last year, he even joined a motorcycle parade on the city's East Side to raise awareness about prostate cancer screening.
Schwartz also continues to support physicians and researchers as they move discoveries from "benchtop to bedside," with potential benefits to people living in the cancer center's catchment area of 15 counties—and to people with cancer around the world. Think recently spoke with Schwartz about the center and his work.
Case Comprehensive Cancer Center Director Gary Schwartz (fourth from left) took part in a parade and prostate-cancer awareness and screening event in Cleveland last September. With him were local barbers participating in the Cleveland African American Prostate Cancer Project, community members who got screened during the event, and cancer center outreach and engagement team members.
What is your vision for the cancer center's role in the community?
There are a couple of key pieces. One is access: Everybody should have access to the latest advances in cancer medicine.
Education is another big part of the role between the community and the cancer center. We've engaged in multiple educational programs, trying to identify promising students in high school from areas, for example, like East Cleveland, where nearly 40% of the people live below the poverty line.
The church is a hub for much of our community. We've worked with the ministers of the community, having a dialogue with their constituents to explain in an open fashion what they can do to improve their lifestyle [to reduce cancer risk]. We're working with community leaders to try to address some of these unmet medical needs and help the community as much as we can to overcome some of the barriers that exist to proper medicines, proper food, diet, education and things of that nature.
I see the cancer center and our neighborhood as being an epicenter for cancer research, cancer care and the advancement of cancer medicine. What we can do here is really amazing, and that excites me every single day.
You lead the cancer center, a consortium of 400 physicians and scientists from Case Western Reserve, and . Yet, you still see patients. How does that motivate your work as director?
It reinforces for me the need to continue to expand our research base and develop new ways of preventing cancer. I take care of patients with rare cancers such as a disease called sarcoma, a cancer of the connective tissue. That's a disease on which we've made very little progress in the last 15 years. We really have to go back and re-examine the very basics of what causes those cancers, which affect children and young adults in particular. And we're doing that.
You've said you want to make Cleveland a center for the treatment of rare cancers (defined by the National Cancer Institute as those types that occur in fewer than 15 out of 100,000 people each year). Has research into rare cancers lagged behind that on more common cancers?
There are 2 million new cancers diagnosed in the U.S. every year, and about one in four is rare cancer. Rare cancer is really the unmet medical need of our country. It doesn't get the attention of big pharma. Someone has to fight and stand up for those 500,000 rare cancers and try to make people aware that they exist. We need to find ways of getting people the right doctors, the right teams and, for us, I think it's an opportunity to really be a center of excellence for patients with these rare diseases.
What accomplishments are you proudest of since becoming center director?
One of my first goals when I got here was to rewrite the [ (NCI) comprehensive cancer center] grant. Every five to seven years you have to go through a competitive grant renewal process and summarize your achievements, successes, weaknesses, where you're going to improve going forward. We did this with the help of a huge team. We rallied together and we got an [NCI rating of] 'outstanding.' It's really extraordinary to have that type of ranking. It makes us exceptional. It speaks to the cancer care we give, to the research we do, to the people who are in Cleveland and the service we offer to both Cleveland and the 15 surrounding counties.