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New Chairman
Bridges Past and Future
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| Raymond
Khoury is the Stehlin Foundation's new Board Chairman. |
Incoming
Chairman of the Board
Raymond Khoury’s relationship with
the Stehlin Foundation goes back to its
beginning.
Khoury started his healthcare career
at St. Joseph in 1966. When the Stehlin
Foundation For Cancer Research was
born there in 1969, Khoury was on the
path to becoming the first layperson to
serve as the hospital’s administrator.
Over the years, Khoury has maintained a steadfast interest
in the Stehlin Foundation, watching it grow and evolve.
And yet, despite his long history and familiarity with The
Foundation, Khoury did not see himself as the obvious choice
to lead its Board of
Directors.
“The number-one job of a not-forprofit board of directors
is to raise the funds to ensure the organization’s financial
health,” Khoury says in his characteristically straightforward
and understated way. “Houston is blessed with many wealthier
people, who would likely be more influential fundraisers.”
However, it did not take long for Khoury’s deep commitment
to the healing mission of the Stehlin Foundation to win him
over. And as Chairman, he brings a unique
perspective as a top healthcare executive who also works with
hospital systems across the country.
"My task is to help the Foundation build on its strengths,"he
says.
For example, Khoury says the Tripartnership model joining
the physician, the researcher and the patient in their shared
fight against cancer is the Stehlin Foundation's greatest
strength.
"It's important to understand what is happening in cancer
research around the world, and where we fit in,"Khoury
says. "A smaller research and treatment organization
can touch people in a more personal way. There is flexibility
to adapt and make changes that benefit patients and advance
research."
Looking ahead to the future, Khoury sees the Stehlin Foundation
maturing and transferring many of the qualities of its founder,
John Stehlin, into the organization itself.
"John Stehlin is a dynamic, visionary man of medicine
who touches patients and their families on a deep and caring
level," he says. "Dr. Giovanella and his dedicated
people devote their lives to discovery in the laboratory.
And patients are better educated and want to participate more
actively in their care than they did a few decades ago,"he
says.
Khoury grows more animated as he discusses the unquenchable
thirst for learning that he sees as a hallmark of the Stehlin
Foundation for Cancer Research.
Their quest to know "what makes it work?"strikes
a chord with Khoury, a lifelong student of organizations.
"I'm intrigued by organizations. Not just how they work,
but also, what makes them work,"he says.
"I want to understand how we build on the strengths of
this organization, support the good work the scientists and
doctors do for their patients, and at the same time, how we
create a legacy for the Foundation's future that continues
after us."
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