In seminar, Tom Lynch talks drug development and improving patient outcomes

New Haven, CT -   Dr. Tom Lynch, former Director of Yale Cancer Center and current Chief Scientific Officer at Bristol-Myers Squibb, returned to campus Wednesday to deliver a talk on 'Cancer Drug Discovery: Role of the University/Hospital, Biotech and Pharma to Improve Patient Outcomes." The talk was the first in a series presented by the Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale, administered by the Office of Cooperative Research. Nearly two hundred faculty and staff members, postdocs and med students filled in The Anlyan Center at the Yale Medical School to hear Dr. Lynch's talk and engage in an hour-long question and answer session. During that session, Dr. Lynch had one clear message - 'enjoy your time at Yale'.    "My time at Yale was the best time of my career," he said. "I believe that great ideas come from universities and you all are really lucky to be here. "  As questions piled in about his experience in academia, medicine and the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Lynch didn't shy away from the hard ones and admitted when he didn't have the answers. After one question concerning the social responsibility of big pharma and inquiring if physicians should consider a transition to work with industry leaders like Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dr. Lynch held that decisions of that nature depend on the individual.  "I used to help more than 500 patients a year," he said to the room of current and aspiring physicians.