Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/489418
t m c » p u l s e | a p r i l 2 0 1 5 22 Q | Let's start at the very beginning. Can you tell us where you were born and raised? A | I was born in Marion, Ohio, home to Warren G. Harding. Between my birth and arrival in Houston we lived in two places in Chicago, two places in Detroit, and Cincinnati. I viewed moving and new classrooms as par for the course. I didn't understand what was happening. My father was a copywriter in the ad business, and this was during the 1950s recession. He kept being last in, first out. Finally he got tired of it, and asked 'Where is there no recession?' Someone said, 'Go to Texas,' and so we came to Houston. He finished his career here and clearly made the right choice. We arrived as I entered the third grade. We lived in Westbury and I remember that every other weekend we would go downtown to Foley's. We'd drive up South Main and I'd look over to the right and see that first Baylor Medical building. I've enjoyed watching the medical center campus grow—I'm an old Houston boy. Q | Where did you go to school? A | Middle school was Johnston Junior High—the Greyhounds. Then Westbury. Back then we were the kicking boy for Bellaire High, probably still are. Westbury has undergone major demographic change from then. In 1969, when I graduated, we were consid- ered fully integrated. We had one black teacher and one black student. Back then it was a solid college preparatory high school. I went from there to The University of Texas. Q | I was going to ask you about that. Why The University of Texas? Obviously, it's a great school… A | I grew up following University of Houston sports and used UH as my backup. I thought about Rice, since I had some interest in the sciences. But I wanted WAYNE ROBERTS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE CANCER PREVENTION & RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF TEXAS, OVERSEES A PASSIONATE AND ENTHUSIASTIC STAFF, DEDICATED TO HELPING TEXAS' RESEARCHERS AND PUBLIC HEALTH SPECIALISTS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CANCER. HE SAT DOWN WITH TEXAS MEDICAL CENTER EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF STRATEGY AND OPERATING OFFICER WILLIAM F. McKEON TO DISCUSS CPRIT'S VISION FOR THE FUTURE. INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT somewhere away from Houston. I never considered A&M, because at the time, they didn't admit women. I had a hard enough time getting a date in high school, so why would I want to go there? Seriously. As I learned later in my career from admissions officers, kids choose colleges for many reasons, many not the reasons their parents might expect. I was lucky for choosing UT, but it was largely happenstance. Looking back, I attribute what success I've had to UT. Q | Did you have a particular interest in government affairs? What led you in that direction? A | At UT, I was looking at social sciences. I had a broad interest in a lot of fields. I didn't consider myself math-oriented, although I did well in math. I settled on government after my freshman year, and never looked back, though I did have a strong interest in English. I actually have more hours in English than