President Bush may have declined speaking at the UA commencement ceremony, but he is recognizing UA accomplishments in other ways.

Bush recently announced his intention to appoint the UA's Dr. Daniel Von Hoff to the National Cancer Advisory Board for a six-year term expiring Mar. 9, 2010.

Von Hoff is a molecular and cellular biology professor at the graduate and medical school level. He is also the director of the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center Cancer Therapeutics Program.

"It's a tremendous privilege to get to that point that you can provide some meaningful perspective and input," said Von Hoff. "It's a great honor because there are so many people out there that could be named. I feel it's a great honor. I feel a great responsibility, too."

Informing the president about the nation's health needs and disseminating information about new early diagnostic techniques will be among Von Hoff's duties.

"The tasks are to emphasize to the president areas that need emphasis in research or care," said Von Hoff. "Let's say that you realize that some tumor is becoming more common. Then that should be brought to the president's attention so that it gets attention or emphasis, funding or whatever."

President Bush increased cancer research funding in 2003 by $629 million. More than 1,500 people die of cancer every day.

Von Hoff's appointment does not require him to leave his position at the Phoenix-based Arizona Cancer Center, as he will meet with the National Cancer Advisory Board about six times a year. The appointment is not a paid position.

"The panel is not a bunch of wallflowers," said Von Hoff. "It's a pretty active bunch."

The panel includes Cathy Guisewite, the creator of the Cathy comic strip and a cancer survivor.

The late Dr. Sydney Salmon, founder of the Arizona Cancer Center and Von Hoff's predecessor as director to the center, died due to complications related to pancreatic cancer in 1999.

Salmon was appointed to the National Cancer Advisory Board in 1991 by President George H. W. Bush.

"When Dr. Salmon named the cancer center, he didn't call it the University of Arizona Cancer Center," said Von Hoff, whose research has focused on pancreatic cancer and therapeutics. "He called it the Arizona Cancer Center. So it was state-wide, and that was a lot of vision."

Von Hoff said he has promised himself he will spend as much time as possible with cancer patients and research, which was one of the reasons he walked away from the administrative duties of being the director of the Arizona Cancer Center in Tucson last year.

"It's a nice coincidence actually, that he (Von Hoff) would be focusing on the research for the disease that took the life of the founding director here," said Donna Breckenridge, the chief communications officer for the Arizona Cancer Center. "It's an honor that our former director was appointed to this position, and of course he's still a member of the Arizona Cancer Center, so we're proud of that."

Von Hoff said his experiences as director might have helped him get picked for his appointment. His experience may become useful for other reasons, too.

"Organizing M.D. and Ph.D. scientists is much harder than herding cats," said Von Hoff. "Theses are independent thinkers, great independent people, smart. You might as well forget organizing them. What you have to do is capture their energy and their talent. And I can tell you, cancer is one of those diseases that captures peoples' energy and talent."

Von Hoff said he hopes to use Dr. Salmon's vision of an Arizona cancer network to bring cooperation between researchers, doctors and survivors when he becomes an adviser.

He said he has already begun thinking about issues that need to be addressed.

"I'm listening to a lot of people, because as you might imagine, people say 'Well Dan, you've got a chance here to do something about this problem,'" Von Hoff said, laughing. "And I'm getting quite a list."

Von Hoff said he plans on narrowing down the list and emphasizing one particular area to the National Cancer Advisory Board so issues do not become diffuse.

Dr. Von Hoff also has appointments as the executie vice president of the Arizona-based Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), director of the Translational Drug Development Division and head of the Pancreatic Cancer Research Program.

He will continue to work for the UA.