Becoming a ‘Messenger’ for employees

This hospital, with Texas-size panache, has defi ned its mission as “the elimination of cancer,” and the boldness of this aim challenges the editor of its employee magazine to come up with a publication whose inclusiveness and ambition matches that of its institution.

Putting out a slim magazine that sums all these activities up and tries to make sense of them smacks of hubris. It is a job of daunting complexity, given the esoteric nature of cancer research, its bewildering subtlety, its reliance on multiple scientifi c disciplines and sub-disciplines.

When you throw into the mix the astonishing proliferation of new disciplines in genetics, gene therapy, cell biology, and many other areas, one wonders if Bryce isn’t tempted at times to chuck it all and produce the standard hospital publication. You know, the one that ignores the research side of the hospital, slides over touchy operational issues as best it can, and runs two milquetoast “satisfi ed patient” stories per issue next to the classified ads and nurse-training announcements.

Bryce has wisely decided that the best thing she can do is to tell employees how other employees at M. D. Anderson do their jobs, and what it is they do.