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In his spare time, he rides a tandem bike with his wife, enjoys inline skating and other outdoor activities.
Douglas Yee, MD
Director, Masonic Cancer Center
Professor, Department of Medicine, John H. Kersey Chair in Cancer Research, University of Minnesota
Section Editor, Breast Cancer, HEMONC TODAY Editorial Board
Douglas Yee, MD, is director of the Masonic Cancer Center, professor in the department of medicine and John H. Kersey Chair in Cancer Research at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
In his professional life, he is particularly interested in understanding the contribution of insulin-like growth factor action to breast cancer and targeting key components of the IGF system to improve treatment.
Yee said, as a physician, splitting your professional time between laboratory investigation and clinical care enhances your skill and expertise in both areas. In addition, he stresses the importance of how research will inform the health care reform process, including participation of patients in the research process.
What do you enjoy doing when you're not practicing medicine?
I like to be outdoors. My wife and I have a tandem bike, so we try to ride as much as we can. The Twin Cities are great for riding.
Travel is always fun too. That's one of the good things about oncology, we have many opportunities to see the world.
Also, I am an inline skater I've done the Northshore Inline marathon in Minnesota for the past 10 years. I try, when I have any spare time, to train for that.
If you had not gone into hematology/oncology or medicine, what would you have done?
I would have become involved in some aspect of biomedical science. When I was an undergraduate, I was interested in the concept of how our genes interact with our environment and in how human genetics could potentially affect people's quality of life and traits, including behavior traits.
I probably didn't pursue human genetics largely because the tools weren't quite there yet; DNA biochemistry was in its infancy and there...