Cancer center drug discovery leader looks back on 20 years of mentorship
“The Madrid train bombings on March 11, 2004,” he said. “Our group was supposed to have been riding one of those trains, but we had a last-minute change in schedule.” Aaron Scott, MD, says that was the day that gave him the perspective and clarity that crystallized his resolve to become the person he is today.
“I watched live coverage of the attack and first responders on TV with my host family,” Scott said. “This was the turning point where I decided I would make the most of my gifts and dedicate my life to becoming a physician scientist.”
A little more than 20 years later, Scott is an associate professor at the U of A College of Medicine and has just been appointed to serve the University of Arizona Comprehensive Cancer Center as director of the Early Therapeutics Program, tasked with developing and executing clinical trials with innovative cancer treatments. Early therapeutics include phase one clinical trials where new pharmaceutical solutions are first tested in a clinical setting with patients.
“The mission is to seek high impact outcomes for our patients, our institution and sponsors,” Scott said. “We will be collaborating with top industry partners and our own investigators to expand our clinical trials portfolio and to offer the most promising clinical and translational research opportunities to attract, recruit and retain high performing clinical researchers and to develop junior faculty.”
Developing junior faculty is something that Scott should know a little bit about, being that he’s something of a homegrown talent himself. In 2004, when he returned to Tucson from Spain, and after graduation (as a fifth generation U of A graduate) Scott looked for advice on how to meet his goal of becoming a doctor.
“I sought out a great friend, Dr. Larissa Allen, who had been a clinical research coordinator at UACCC and who was now starting medical school at the University of Arizona,” Scott said. “I told her of my ambition to pursue medical school, and she helped me create an action plan.
“Given the cancer center was looking for a clinical trials coordinator because of her departure, she said I would be a great fit. And she was right. Starting the job, all my interests merged: reading and learning trial protocols; investigating and targeting molecular mechanisms of cancer; working with a team of ambitious staff and physicians; and helping patients during the most vulnerable times of their lives.”
Scott said this experience helped form his concept of what a doctor should be. It was the development of new ways to deliver compassionate care and being part of a team with an important mission that really inspired him. He was mentored at the cancer center at that time under Lee Cranmer, MD, shadowing him in clinic and sitting in on research meetings.
“I witnessed how he approached clinical research and learned so much about running clinical trials,” Scott said. “Working with him showed me all the various ways in which a clinical researcher can have a great impact.”
During his fourth year of medical school at U of A, Scott participated in a four-week sub-internship at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. There he worked under Karl Lewis, MD, who specialized in melanoma clinical research. “I loved everything about that experience, and based on it, University of Colorado Hospital became my top choice for my internal medicine residency.”
“As I often reflect, I’ve been blessed with connecting with many wonderful mentors and sponsors along the way and quite serendipitously in hindsight,” Scott said. At University of Colorado Hospital, one of the doctors who interviewed Scott for his internal medicine residency would later become his primary mentor during his fellowship, Wells Messersmith, MD.
Scott notes that Messersmith embodies what leadership represents to him to this very day. “He invited me to work in his lab and form a mentorship plan,” Scott said. “For the remainder of my fellowship, I worked under him as a fellow-apprentice, doing bench-side research in his lab, attending national meetings, and writing investigator-initiated trials with him.
“He planted seeds and nurtured the growth for me to become a clinical researcher as a GI/phase 1 medical oncologist. During this time, I also witnessed the rapid growth and increased prestige of a blossoming cancer center that went from being ranked in the 40s to ranked 15th in the nation by US News and World Report.
“Another fantastic example of serendipity: this was during Dr. Theodorescu’s time as director of the University of Colorado Cancer Center. While I didn’t interact with him as a fellow, I could certainly see and feel the positive impact he was having on the organization.”
Back in Tucson, at the U of A Cancer Center, Scott says he found another fantastic mentor in Rachna Shroff, MD. “I was, and still am, struck by her dedication, intensity, and command,” Scott said. “As talented as she is in so many ways, it is her fearless, action-oriented process that makes her truly great. Given I was her junior faculty on the team, she began mentoring me about the nuts and bolts of running a CTO and trial activation, and the administrative processes that being a leader within the cancer center requires. Shroff is associate director of clinical investigations for the cancer center and chief of the division of hematology oncology in the U of A College of Medicine where she also serves as a professor.
“I’ve learned from her that leadership isn’t about being the person with all the answers, it's about having the tools, grace, and strength to be the catalyst for change.”
Shroff said that she is proud of Scott’s professional development and the initiative he takes in leadership. “It gives me immense pride to see Dr. Scott appointed as the director of the Early Phase Therapeutics Program,” Shroff said. “Having served as his mentor, I have witnessed his incredible growth as a clinical trialist, an engaged translational researcher, and as a leader and mentor to junior investigators. I look forward to working with him as we grow our clinical research efforts at the center and across the state.”
While his reputation precedes him in some professional circles, Shroff said that Scott is reluctant to talk about himself. However, a search of PubMed will turn up 42 publications since 2017 to which he’s contributed, with 13 of those having been ones he’s either led or supervised. In the three years leading up to his most recent leadership appointment at the cancer center, Scott served the center as co-leader of its Clinical and Translational Oncology Program alongside friend and colleague, Steffan Nawrocki, PhD.
"Aaron is an extraordinary colleague," Nawrocki said. "His vision and dedication have been instrumental in transforming our program. Together, we've restructured CTOP, and seen a significant increase in extramural funding and high-impact publications that advance cancer research."
Curtis Thorne, PhD, a cancer center member and professor of cellular and molecular medicine in the U of A College of Medicine, said that working with Scott has helped him translate basic scientific discovery into real clinical solutions. “As a basic cancer researcher, it’s easy to allow my research to live a life of aimless wandering culminating with its dissemination in specialized academic journals,” Thorne said. “Our long discussions in the halls of the cancer center encouraged me to co-found Branch Therapeutics, a cancer-focused drug discovery company.”
When asked where he’d like to see the University of Arizona Cancer Center in the next five to 10 years, Scott said that he envisions the center leading the region in drug development and early therapeutics clinical trials and as a nationally recognized leader in clinical research serving rural communities, having built a program that attracts investigators who aim for excellence.
Scott doesn’t shy away from adding more specificity to that vision. “We need to reduce barriers to clinical trial activations, adopt new technologies to foster and grow clinical research that can be accessed by rural communities and consortium sites, and we absolutely need to fund and develop infrastructure to clear a pathway for drug development.”
Speaking of opportunities for phase one trials to advance the goals of the U of A Cancer Center and its clinical partner, Banner—University Medical Center, Scott said that they are a critical component. “Building a world-class phase one program will act as a rising tide to lift all ships,” Scott said.