In April 1999, Dr. Miguel A. Villalona joined the Ohio State faculty, recruited as an Assistant Professor by his previous supervisor Dr. Clara Bloomfield to join the division of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Medicine and the Arthur James Cancer Hospital, Richard J. Solove Research Institute. His recruitment does not come as a surprise since he is a leading expert in the development of new anticancer drugs. Recently, he received the prestigious Fray Anton de Montesinos Award from the Alumni Association of the University of Santo Domingo in New York City. Every year, this prestigious award is given to a professional born in the Dominican Republic, but living in the United States and who has substantially enhanced the reputation of his/her country through his/her achievements.

Professor Villalona became interested in the medical career following the example of his family physician, who was very personable and dedicated. At a very young age, Dr. Villalona witnessed the loss of a classmate to cancer. The experience stimulated his passion to dedicate his life in finding a cure to this terrible disease. Professor Villalona’s studied in the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña, and did a rotation in Internal Medicine at Danbury’s Hospital, an affiliate of Yale University. While in Medical School, he volunteered in the Oncological Hospital Heriberto Pieter. Afterwards, he was chosen by the National Resident Matching Program for his residency in Internal Medicine at the Kings County Hospital, State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn. Dr. Villalona compares his residence to a boot camp, particularly because it was very intense: long hours of work, tremendous responsibility and the many very sick AIDS patients treated.

At the University of Minnesota, he began his research in cancer. Afterwards, he moved to Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY to finish his training in oncology. For two years, Dr. Villalona worked in an underserved area in rural Alabama. This provided valuable experience both at the professional and personal levels. After these two years, he moved to the University of Texas, San Antonio for a special fellowship position to study the development of new drugs to treat cancer. A year later, he was appointed as faculty member at the University of Texas. The four years spent at the University of Texas were invaluable for the development of his career since he collaborated with Dr. Daniel D. Von Hoff, a world wide known expert in the development of new therapies for cancer. Dr. Villalona opened a clinic for pulmonary cancer patients where he applied the most recent strategies to fight cancer and took the approach of immersing himself in laboratory animal studies as a way to connect with basic scientist and the most recent discoveries in the molecular biology of cancer. His experimental research on pulmonary cancer was financed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

At Ohio State, Professor Villalona was assigned to develop the clinical research program and the pulmonary cancer research program at the Arthur James Cancer Hospital, Richard J. Solove Research Institute. His research projects are supported by NCI and pharmaceutical companies. In July 2002, Doctor Villalona was promoted to Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and granted Tenure. He directs the program on experimental therapies on solid tumors, and studies new strategies and new agents to fight cancer. However, this is only the beginning for Professor Villalona as he foresees many long battles against cancer ahead of him. To prevent more victims of this disease, Dr. Villalona recommends to use your brain “not to be convinced by the tobacco campaign!”.

How does cancer develop?
How can we attack it?

Cancer is a code carried in the genes that causes cells to keep growing, reproducing and spreading to other organs, instead of dying. Factors such as radon, asbestos, as well as smoking and second-hand smoking, influence the predisposition.

Treatments, such as radiation, chemotherapy and surgery, revert the growth of cancer cells. Radiation and surgery are the best treatments for localized cancer. The combination of several chemotherapy sessions and surgery may also result in a better life prognosis. There are also several products such as the epidermal growth factor receptor and pills that block cancer growth and others intensify chemotherapy. Although cancer is a genetic predisposition, certain environments foster this type of disease. Thus, it is a good idea not to smoke, or to quit smoking; avoid second-hand smoke, and check basements for radon and buildings for asbestos.