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Lynn Matrisian, PhD, Professor and Chair
Department of Cancer Biology, and
Vanderbilt-Ingram CancerCenter

If you can’t go left, go right … as long as you’re moving, you aren’t stuck!

That bit of pragmatic wisdom from Dr. Lynn Matrisian’s father, a Pennsylvania bus driver, was offered to help her navigate snowy streets as a young driver. The words, however, have stuck with the renowned cancer biologist and become something of a personal mantra.

Matrisian, who originally trained to become a medical technologist, fell in love with the discovery process after being exposed to a biomedical research laboratory. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship in France, she was enticed to Nashville by the promise of working with Dr. Hal Moses, founding director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, and Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Stanley Cohen, PhD.

“Hal was particularly encouraging and offered opportunities to expand my administrative skills and impact a broader range of people and events.”

In addition to continuing her own line of research tied to tumor progression, Matrisian has taken the managerial lessons learned under the tutelage of Moses and applied them locally as chair of a very productive department and nationally in her work with the National Cancer Institute.

Matrisian was named one of three scientists to lead a committee of 63 researchers as part of the Translational Research Working Group. The result was a report accepted by the NCI last summer with 15 initiatives to help move research from bench to bedside.

In the next decade, she said her goal is “converting a wealth of basic science knowledge into real advances in healthcare. I am currently trying to set up a system at the National Cancer Institute to accelerate this process and hope to document real measures of success within the next five-to-10 years.”

Through a joint agreement with Vanderbilt and the NCI, Matrisian is dividing her time and efforts between the two institutions. When she’s back in Nashville, Matrisian continues to try to unravel the mysteries of the tumor microenvironment and the molecular mechanism underlying cancer development and metastasis.

Research in which she played an integral role led to drug development that progressed to clinical trials. Unfortunately, the theory didn’t play out in human subjects.

“That was an incredible learning experience,” she said of the disappointment. “We’re still looking to figure out why … maybe find out where it went wrong. I’m not sure you don’t learn more from the failures than from the successes.”

Still, with enormous opportunities ahead in terms of cancer research, Matrisian is excited about the possibilities the future holds. The challenge, she noted, is to prioritize avenues of study in times of limited financial resources.

One area where she never has to worry about support is in her personal life. Lynn and Paul Matrisian will celebrate their 30th anniversary later this year. A chemist and information technology expert, Paul has taken a leave of absence to be able to travel with his wife over the past couple of years as she served as president of the 27,000-member American Association for Cancer Research and now as she works between Nashville and her NCI appointment.

Finding a balance between the personal and professional … accepting defeats as well as victories … celebrating small gains in an ongoing battle against cancer … and being flexible enough be open to new opportunities … these are the ways Matrisian defines success.

“If you can’t go left, go right –– it works for just about every obstacle life throws at you.”



May 2008

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