Professor of Internal Medicine,Stuart B. Padnos Professor in Breast Cancer, and Clinical Director of the Breast Oncology Program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, as well as2011-2014 ASCO Board of Directors member

AC: What led you to oncology?

Dr. Hayes: Dr. Larry Einhorn. I wasa junior medical student at Indiana University in 1977, and I was assigned to the oncology ward. He and hiscolleagues (in particular the lateDr. Stephen D. Williams) were in the middle of proving that testicularcancer could be cured, and he wasthe attending physician for the last two weeks of the month. I was inspired, and to this day those two weeks (and a subsequent two months during my senior year that I spentwith them) have shaped my career.

AC: What’s the last book you read?
Dr. Hayes: I’m currently reading Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. Prior to that I read several books on fly-fishing. Perhaps I’m preparing for my old age?

AC: What’s your favorite website?
Dr. Hayes: LetsRun.com. It’s a website related to all things track and field.

AC: Who is the person you most admire?
Dr. Hayes: Just one person? That’s tough. My mother and father, who passed away in 2006 and 2007. They taught me about honesty, respect for others, hard work, and love of life; my older brother, who like all older brothers has always seemed smarter, better looking, and more charming than I am; and my wife, who has served as a sounding board for me over the last 40 years, with great advice that has been nearly 100% spot-on.

AC: What career could you see yourself in if you weren’t an oncologist?
Dr. Hayes: I was accepted into medical school during the semester of my senior year when I was doing my student teaching. I had plans to teach high school biology and coach basketball and track and field.

AC: What hobbies do you enjoy?
Dr. Hayes: Running/track and field, fishing, playing golf, and hiking. Other than hiking, sadly I’m not very good at any of these anymore!

AC: Do you have a personal motto?
Dr. Hayes: “Don’t talk an airline pilot into flying or a surgeon into cutting.” If they don’t want to, it’s probably a bad idea!

AC: What is your fondest memory?
Dr. Hayes: The births of my two sons (now 32 and 29), vacations with my wife and sons (too many to recount), and an occasional running accomplishment from 40 to 45 years ago.

AC: What would you say to a young physician thinking about entering the field of oncology?
Dr. Hayes: The field is entering an exciting time, and smart, young doctors can really take advantage of it. However, old-fashioned principles still pertain: remain organized and systematic—otherwise you’ll make mistakes that you’ll regret; stay focused on the patient—every one of them should be your sister, brother, or you; and if you are going into academics—at the end of every clinic there should be an experiment, and at the end of every experiment there should be a patient.