In 2024, John Olsen, MD, and Christine Olsen created a $1 million endowed professorship within the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC –James). Dr. Olsen is a retired chair of the Department of Radiology within The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and also a former patient of the Wexner Medical Center's Head and Neck Oncology group.
Amit Agrawal, MD, is the first recipient of the professorship. Dr. Olsen, a cancer survivor and grateful patient of Dr. Agrawal's, preferred that consideration be given to a faculty physician specializing in head and neck cancers, which is Dr. Agrawal’s special interest, as well as facial plastic and reconstructive surgery.
“The concept behind it is to promote the educational, research and clinical mission of excellence that we hold, not only within the Department of Otolaryngology and the Ohio State Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, but medical center-wide,” says Dr. Agrawal.
“I’ve known John and Christine Olsen for a very long time,” Dr. Agrawal says. “They are wonderful people. Part of this is their gratefulness toward our institution and our departments. This position supports these institutions' mission by providing support so faculty can continue to engage in all three areas — academic, clinical and research.”
Dr. Agrawal’s research interests are broad but fall into two main categories. The first is to improve the effectiveness of cancer treatment outcomes while minimizing the major side effects and toxicity.
Many of the cancers he treats tend to metastasize and require a time-honored procedure called neck dissection to remove lymph nodes. “It’s very effective, and it’s diagnostic and therapeutic, but it carries potential side effects and risks,” says Dr. Agrawal. “One of the ways we can mitigate those risks is to perform a less invasive procedure, potentially remove fewer lymph nodes or more important lymph nodes that we think are important in determining how a cancer is behaving, instead of a more radical, extensive procedure.”
The procedure is sentinel lymph node biopsy, and Dr. Agrawal says, “that’s an area that I’ve devoted a lot of my time, focus and research expertise toward developing.”
A second area of interest is transoral robotic surgery. “I’ve been specifically interested in this over a long period,” Dr. Agrawal says. He is also involved in numerous ongoing, collaborative, multidisciplinary efforts between surgical oncologists, radiation oncologists and medical oncologists.
Along with the $1 million toward the endowed professorship within the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, John and Christine Olsen donated another $1 million to create a professorship within the Department of Radiation Oncology. John Grecula, MD, was the recipient of that professorship.
Dr. Agrawal’s professorship will run from May 1, 2024, through June 30, 2028.
“John and Christine Olsen’s story, in terms of John’s battle with cancer, underlines how we were able to help him using many of the elements that we have investigated or are currently investigating,” says Dr. Agrawal. “This is very rewarding, and I’m honored to be part of it and a recipient of it.”