Dr. Stephen Withrow

As an intern, in 1972, at the Animal Medical Center in New York City, very green and young, I used to attend the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center rounds. I became aware that veterinary medicine could have a significant influence on human health, at the same time, treating animals. At the Animal Medical Center, I slowly drifted toward surgical oncology. Part of that training program was to do an outside rotation, which was visionary for its time. My outside rotation was at the Mayo Clinic Rochester. I was a veterinarian, going to the Mayo Clinic Rochester, and they didn't quite know what to do with me. Just by chance on one Friday afternoon, I was collared in the hall by an orthopedic surgical oncologist, to go see a patient with a tumor. After a few hours, I realized, "Man, this is the place to be." I spent three wonderful months there, which really opened my eyes. Surgery was wholly underrepresented in veterinary oncology at that time, and I became aware that we needed to standardize surgical oncology care for pets with cancer.

In 1978, I came to Colorado State University with the intent to develop a clinical oncology service. After three years as a general surgeon, I sat down with the department head to get permission to develop a new service. This new oncology service would allow us to provide the care that was needed for cancer patients, would allow us to do the translational trials we were capable of doing, and would enable us to embrace research. In two years we created a stand-alone clinical oncology service. We've been growing since.

Cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs and cats; it's a major health issue. I'm a veterinarian, and first and foremost my job is to alleviate pain and suffering in pet animals. But I realize it is all translational to human disease, and it would be silly to treat animal disease in isolation from human disease. To me, it's one medicine. It always has been. One medicine. One cancer. One cure.

The wonderful thing is the incredibly motivated and dedicated owners. We're seeing almost two thousand new patients each year, who travel from all over the world to come here for treatment. And I've seen amazing advancements, all on the backs of hundreds of thousands of trusting pets who have no say in the matter. It's an unbelievable privilege to oversee the healthcare delivery to man's best friend. You don't enter this profession for money; you enter it to help animals have a better life. This is not a forty-hour a week job, it's a passion. It's a professional pathway to inner peace and job satisfaction, delivered compassionately with team work, with a shared mission, and a shared vision. You need passion, integrity, and a vision of where you're trying to go.

I don't often get the chance to have my hair tinted green, and to goof around with a bunch of kids. But for one week each year, I go to the Sky High Hope Camp, and help kids with cancer just be kids. It's been an anchor for me, in terms of the relevance of our work. You can't put a value on alleviating suffering and pain in children any more than you can in pet animals. Children completely entrust you with their healthcare. They're courageous. They're tough. They face their disease with unbelievable resilience and compassion. They completely trust in the healthcare system. If we can be part of that, then we're entrusted with something that is truly special.

When the dust all settles, and they put me on the other side of the sod, I'll be most proud of the students, the residents, the fellows, the interns, and all the minds, and the lives that I've been privileged to touch. People who will continue on with the integrity, the compassion, and the vision for program growth, healthcare delivery, and for translational medicine; to further disseminate knowledge, to alleviate pain, and to improve quality of life for pet animals and for people. The backbone of the Animal Cancer Center is its people. We continue to tell the story of the shared benefits of treating cancer in dogs and cats - for the veterinary medical profession as well as the human medical profession. I'm very proud of the people who embrace that philosophy.