“What that first cancer hospital did was give us the opportunity to physically designate a space and say this is solely for cancer patients and solely for cancer research, and it has made a huge difference and has impacted the lives of millions of people.” Those are the words of David Schuller, MD, who was the director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center on July 9, 1990 — the day the doors of the new Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute opened. A new era had begun. “Dr. James had the honor of wheeling the first patient [from University Hospitals] into the new James,” Schuller says, adding that the hospital had been a dream of Dr. James for almost 40 years. “He saw the benefits of having a hospital totally focused on this disease, and wasn’t going to back off of that until he achieved his goal.” Schuller is one of the true pioneers of the OSUCCC – James — an inspiring leader who helped create the original hospital, and then oversaw the construction the new, state-of-the-art, $1.1 billion facility that opened in 2014. In Episode 62 of The James Cancer-Free World podcast (the first in a three-part series on the 30th anniversary of The James), Schuller discusses the history of cancer research and treatment prior to the opening of the new hospital in 1990, and how, when he began his career, “cancer was uniformly considered a fatal disease, and now in so many cases, it’s being controlled and cured, and that’s what kept the engine going for me and motivated me.” Under Schuller’s leadership, the OSUCCC – James grew in size and reputation, quickly attracting cancer patients from across Ohio and beyond. Schuller recruited the best and brightest from around the country and the world, giving them guidance and opportunities to excel, which helped to build of one of the world’s top cancer genomics centers of research and treatment. “People would say to me, ‘This is your legacy, this building,’” Schuller says of the current James facility, for which he led the team that oversaw design and construction. “I don’t look at it that way, and I hope my legacy is that I had an opportunity to be involved in treating patients, the opportunity to educate doctors who went on to treat cancer patients, the opportunity to be a clinical researcher and all of this, I hope, had an impact on patients with cancer.” Listen as Dr. Schuller shares some of the many highlights of his career in Part I of this three-part James 30th Anniversary Celebration podcast.