- We are honored now to be joined by Dr. Steven K. Libutti, who is Senior Vice President Oncology Services at RWJBarnabas Health, also the William N. Hait Director, Rutgers Cancer Institute.

Doctor, good to see you again.

- Good to see you, Steve.

Thanks for having me.

- It is our pleasure.

Let me ask you this, the field of cancer research, cancer treatment, and you've seen this better than most, has changed dramatically in the last, say 5 to 10 years.

I know it's cancer by cancer, I shouldn't say it that way, but how much has it changed?

- Well, I think what's changed about it is our ability to understand cancer as many different diseases and our ability to understand cancer at a genetic or molecular level, allowing us to better personalize or tailor our approaches to treatment to fit the individual patient and their cancer as an attempt to maximize the efficacy of those strategies and minimize toxicity.

- Hmm.

I was remiss, let me also disclose that RWJBarnabas Health, a major underwriter of public broadcasting as well as the Caucus Educational Corporation, our not-for-profit production company.

Doctor, lemme ask you this and lemme me also disclose, I've had conversations offline with Dr. Libutti about family issues having to do with cancer.

You get those calls a lot, do you not, Doctor?

- I do, and it is actually the best part of my job.

It's the part that I feel very, very passionate about.

If I can be of assistance in navigating what is often a very scary and traumatic diagnosis, it's a privilege to be able to do that.

And that's really our approach for the oncology service line at RWJBarnabas Health and the Rutgers Cancer Institute is to make that journey less scary and intimidating and to provide not just the treatments that a patient with a cancer diagnosis needs, but the care.

And I believe that care starts at that first encounter trying to navigate the complexities of a cancer diagnosis to a successful treatment plan.

- Doctor, do this for us.

The people will see in the logo behind you, not just the RWJBarnabas Health logo, but also as you also disclose, I'm a son of Rutgers graduate school doctoral program and I bleed Rutgers, if you will.

That being said, some folks are wondering, so what's the connection?

Why are there two logos?

Explain that to folks.

It's more than logos.

- Yeah, so I am truly a son of both entities, RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute.

When I was recruited in 2017, I was recruited by both to leverage the power of the state's largest health system, largest academic health system and the state's premier public research university.

And that partnership is incredibly enabling.

It gives us a platform from a clinical perspective to care for a large population of the states citizens that received their care from RWJBarnabas Health and to have the power and strength of cutting edge research, and our NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center at Rutgers.

- Tell folks, NCI gets thrown around a lot.

That acronym stands for?

- National Cancer Institute.

So the federal government, the National Institutes of Health have approximately 27 institutes and centers that fund research and provide actually a research hospital in Bethesda, Maryland that cares for patients on research protocols.

But the National Cancer Institute is the largest funder of cancer research in the United States, and they designate centers through a highly competitive process.

There are currently only 73 in the United States, and the comprehensive designation is the highest designation they give.

And we have to recompete for that designation every five years.

- Do this for us, outpatient care, outpatient cancer care becoming more significant and more important than ever before.

Talk about that piece of the equation as it relates to cancer care.

- Absolutely.

So it is a large piece of how we care for patients with cancer.

Approximately 85% of patients with a cancer diagnosis will receive most of their cancer care in the outpatient setting.

And it's why we as an organization, RWJBarnabas and the Rutgers Cancer Institute are opening three brand new facilities in New Jersey to provide that critical integrated outpatient care.

And when I say integrated, I mean integrated across all of the disciplines that work as a team to care for a patient with a cancer diagnosis, medical oncology, radiation oncology, surgical oncology, supportive care, all working together in the same space.

And so we have three brand new facilities that'll be opening beginning in 2025.

- Doctor, you know, I mentioned earlier that, and I've talked to you offline, and again, not the only person who knows you, and it's bad for you that we have your cell phone.

That being said, this is something that, you know, I think about a lot.

In my other life, I do a lot of leadership and communication coaching.

Let's talk about physician communication, your ability to have those conversations that are not always clinical, meaning colleague to colleague clinical conversations.

They're with people who do not have that background.

Long-winded way of getting to this question, is it natural for most physicians to be excellent interpersonal communicators?

You're smiling, why?

- I'm smiling because I don't know that it comes naturally, per se.

A lot of the challenges you have to navigate to ultimately make it through medical school and residency and a fellowship to become a cancer provider, leverage communication skills as an asset.

I think physicians by their nature and certainly those that choose to go into cancer are compassionate people.

And I think that ability to connect with others is part of what makes them good at what they do.

And we value that when we're recruiting members of our team.

But if there's at any level, if I have any abilities to effectively communicate, I have to... And the reason I smile, is I have to thank my mom who is a third grade school teacher.

And that was always a prime area of importance for her with my sister and I.

My sister is an attorney where good communication skills are important as well.

And so it was ingrained in our home from a very early age that it's important to be able to communicate and to do so effectively with people.

So that gave me maybe some advantages in navigating this.

But we look to our physicians first and foremost, to put the patients first, to really be patient focused, and having good communication skills is part of the ability to do that successfully.

- Well said.

Final question, Doctor.

You've been at this for a few years, okay?

Your greatest professional/personal... How do I phrase this the right way?

I don't wanna say joy.

That's may not the right...

The greatest satisfaction you get professionally and personally from doing what you do is?

- Is helping people.

I think at the end of the day, I recognize having gone through the cancer journey with family members, what a stress and struggle that is.

And I see my greatest joy and satisfaction in both personally helping folks to navigate that, but also from a professional standpoint, building a system and an infrastructure that allows all of my providers to take some of that burden off of patients with a cancer diagnosis and wrap a warm blanket around them and provide that care in addition to the treatment.

For me, when I get feedback that that's actually succeeded either from the patients or my providers, that gives me the greatest sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

- Thank you, Doctor.

- Thank you.

Steve.

Pleasure.

- Dr. Steven Libutti, RWJBarnabas Health, Senior Vice President Oncology Services, RWJBarnabas Health and William N. Hait Director Rutgers Cancer Institute.

Doctor, all the best to you and the team.

- Thanks, to you too, Steve.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] Think Tank with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by The New Jersey Education Association.

EJI, Excellence in Medicine Awards.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

The North Ward Center.

New Brunswick Development Corporation.

NJ Best, New Jersey’s five-two-nine college savings plan.

Delta Dental of New Jersey.

The Fidelco Group.

And by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Promotional support provided by The New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

And by ROI-NJ.

- The EJI Excellence in Medicine Awards was established in 1939, shining a light on New Jersey's health care leaders.

Current awards include the Excellence in Medicine, Research, Medical, Education and Community Service.

EJI also funds annual scholarships to medical, dental, pharmaceutical and physician assistant students throughout the state.

Learn more at EJIAwards.org.