NVCI hires new leader

By Nicole Lucht

Friday, Feb. 6, 2009 | 2 a.m.

The incoming chief executive of Nevada Cancer Institute said he is intent on raising its standards so it becomes nationally recognized as a comprehensive cancer center.

Dr. John Ruckdeschel has been hired to replace Dr. Sandy Murdock who resigned last fall. The institute’s co-founder and chairwoman, Heather Murren, has been acting chief executive since September.

“To hire a leader the caliber of Dr. Ruckdeschel is truly a monumental achievement for Nevada Cancer Institute and the state of Nevada,” Murren said in a statement. “Dr. Ruckdeschel will be instrumental in leading (Nevada Cancer Institute) down the path to achieve its overarching goal of reaching (National Cancer Institute) designation.”

Ruckdeschel, who starts in June, served as a consultant for Nevada Cancer Institute when it opened in 2005.

“My fun in life is taking a cancer center and taking it several steps ahead,” he said during a phone call. Every center with its sights on earning national recognition goes through a tracking process, he said.

To get to that level, the organization’s leader needs to be able to meld its clinical, leadership and scientific teams, he said.

“It’s getting the orchestra to play together ... (for a cancer center) to become great,” he said. As the chief executive, he said he will be able to “get a chance to put my stamp on how it looks” in a way that benefits both the science and the patient.

Ruckdeschel is also a renowned lung cancer physician and researcher.

Over the past six years, Ruckdeschel, as chief executive, reorganized Karmanos Cancer Institute’s clinical and research programs, as well as its administrative structure, saving the Detroit-based institute from nearly losing its national designation and funding, according to an Oct. 3, 2005, article in Crain’s Detroit Business.

“He helped us to significantly increase our federal funding as a comprehensive cancer center and to become the only independent hospital in Michigan solely dedicated to the treatment of cancer,” Alan Schwartz, Karmanos’ chairman, was quoted as saying in Crain’s on Feb. 2.

Ruckdeschel is also assuming the role of director, taking over for Dr. Nicholas Vogelzang, who’s been director since 2004, institute spokeswoman Jennifer McDonnell said. Vogelzang will take on the role of associate center director for Clinical Research and head of the Genitourinary Cancer Program, allowing him to focus exclusively on advancing the research and treatment options for the institute’s genitourinary cancer patient, she said.