Top Smilow Doc Leaving Town

The doctor who helped establish Yale-New Haven’s Smilow Cancer Hospital is stepping down after six years.

The doc, Thomas J. Lynch (pictured), has accepted a position as chairman and chief executive officer of the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization.

For the past six years he has served as physician-in-chief of Smilow as well as director of the Yale Cancer Center. Peter Schulam will serve as his interim replacement.

Lynch announced the news Thursday in a blast email.

The text of the email follows:

Dear Friends,

The past six years have been a time of remarkable growth for Yale Cancer Center. The accomplishments of our faculty and staff during this time have been exceptional. The senior leadership of the Cancer Center has led us to remarkable heights and continues to drive the most innovative cancer research. Just this year we enrolled 850 patients on therapeutic clinical trials, obtained a SPORE grant in Lung Cancer from the National Cancer Institute, published more than 700 scientific papers and reports, and will launch the inaugural year of the Yale Cancer Center Discovery Fund to continue to support outstanding research.

Smilow Cancer Hospital has become one of nation’s top cancer treatment and research facilities. This year we were among the very highest rated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in Patient Satisfaction and led Yale-New Haven Hospital on measures of patient safety and employee engagement. Our doctors and nurses are truly spectacular. For those of you that were able to attend, I was proud to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of Smilow Cancer Hospital with you this past May.

Furthermore, we have extended Smilow Cancer Hospital to ten care centers throughout Connecticut, and an exciting new partnership with Saint Francis Hospital. The Care Centers are the jewels of Yale Cancer Center and Smilow. They lead many of our patient satisfaction surveys and they have become critical partners in accrual to Clinical Research Trials — something that no other cancer center in the U.S. has been able to achieve.

None of these accomplishments could have been achieved without your support. To the many of you who have been with us since the very beginning, thank you for helping us rise to these great heights. For those that we have more recently gotten to know, thank you for your confidence in our work and belief in our capabilities for the future. I have unwavering faith that Yale Cancer Center and Smilow will continue to lead the nation in discovery and ultimately hope for patients and their families.

It is in the context of these remarkable six years that I write to tell you that I will be leaving Yale and Smilow later this summer. I have accepted the position of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization. In this role, I will lead more than 2900 physician faculty as we advance the mission of academic medicine — providing exceptional care, performing groundbreaking research, and training the leaders of American medicine — all made more challenging by the ever-evolving economics of healthcare. The answers to these questions will only come from institutions like Yale and MGH that have the depth, breadth, and vision to ensure that we continue to make progress against human suffering and disease.

I leave Yale and Smilow with the knowledge and deep belief that the senior management of both institutions is among the finest in the nation. We have just completed a comprehensive strategic plan that will guide Yale Cancer Center and Smilow for the next five years.

I am delighted that Dr. Peter Schulam has agreed to serve as the interim director of Yale Cancer Center and physician-in-chief of Smilow Cancer Hospital. Peter is a spectacular physician and an inspiring leader. He has the full support of the University, Hospital, and Cancer Center leadership. He will continue as Chair of Urology, and I thank him for taking on this critical role.

The greatest and most enduring legacy of Yale Cancer Center and Smilow can be summed up in a note that I received on Monday from the wife of a man who passed after a prolonged bout with cancer. In the letter she praised the remarkable heroes who come to Smilow every day to care for patients.

She finished by wishing us all the very best—

“May you and yours enjoy many years of excellent health, peace, and prosperity, with much success in your lofty mission of advancing innovative cancer treatment and quality care to patients.”

I want to thank you all for the incredible support you have given me over the last six years. Without the full dedication of the physicians, nurses, researchers, staff, and friends of both Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital, we would not have celebrated so many successes together. I will leave at the end of the summer knowing that the entire team will continue to work together to achieve the goals that we have set forth, and I look forward to seeing those successes come to fruition.

Sincerely yours,

Tom