Cassian Yee, MD
A Translational Scientist
Dr. Cassian Yee wants to advance cancer treatments by integrating research and clinical care. “I am a translational scientist,” he explains. “I use research and patient care to inform and improve each other.”
In addition to treating melanoma and ovarian cancer patients at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Dr. Cassian Yee is an associate member in the Program in Immunology in the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and an associate professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
As a team leader for house staff—which includes interns, residents and fellows— at University of Washington Medical Center, he enjoys the opportunity to teach and encourage the kind of patient-centered medical care he so highly values.
Patience for patients
Dr. Yee works to balance his research and patient-care roles so that he can spend enough time with each of his patients to hear their concerns and understand how they are really doing.
“He is very caring with his patients and their families who talk with him freely if they have concerns,” says Eunice Revia, a UWMC charge nurse who is involved in several research projects with Dr. Yee.
“People face life and illness in different ways,” he says. Some patients are very curious about their illness and want to know how different treatment protocols work, as well as their risks and potential outcomes. Access to television, newspapers, journals, and the Internet has helped people become more sophisticated about cancer and cancer treatments. Dr. Yee says they come to appointments prepared with information, questions, and opinions. “I try to give them a balanced point of view,” he says.
Dr. Yee says he defines success as “helping patients with good quality-of-life decisions, particularly when they have a disease that can be rapidly fatal.”
Melissa Matterazo, whose sister Lesley Robinett, died of melanoma in 2004, says of Dr. Yee, “Dr. Yee was always someone my sister and our family felt really cared about his work and his patients. His kindness and easy manner really stood out during Lesley’s care.”
Dr. Yee continued to support Lesley Robinett’s family even after her death by speaking at the Safe in the Shade walk-a-thon on May 1, 2005 that was organized by Matterazo and other family members.
Sorting out clinical trials options
Many of Dr. Yee’s patients are treated in clinical trials, and part of his job is helping them choose the right trial, "Not what they’ve heard about or even what the literature says is best,” he says.
Some patients and their families don’t want much information, Dr. Yee says, they simply put their trust in the SCCA experts and stay the course.
“But I make sure that each of my patients, and his or her family, knows the kinds of information necessary to make decisions they are comfortable with,” he says.
Dr. Yee says he is deeply moved by the courage his patients show while going through the rigors of clinical trials. “They go through all of it while juggling families, children, and jobs,” he says.
The hope of research
Dr. Yee treats people who have very serious illnesses, including metastatic melanoma and ovarian cancer. His research focuses on finding better, more effective treatments for these diseases.
The director of the Immune Monitoring Laboratory at Hutchinson Center, Dr. Yee is also a principal investigator in the immunotherapy research group for the treatment of melanoma and ovarian cancers. He says he believes immunotherapy has great potential, and is working to move this research from the laboratory, to clinical trials, to patients in a clinical setting.
Dr. Yee finds “delayed gratification” in research. It can be rewarding to see his patients respond well to a new treatment that has grown out of his team’s research, he says. “Those back in the lab don’t get to see this, so I make sure to share both treatment news and our patients’ appreciation with them,” he says.
Dr. Yee and his colleagues have published numerous articles about their work, and he has received a number of awards, such as the Cancer Research Institute Investigator Award and the Damon Runyan Walter Winchell clinical investigator award. Dr. Yee was a Burroughs Wellcome Fellow and received the Philip J. Fialkow Scholarship award from the University of Washington.
Developing his future
When Cassian Yee was a young boy growing up in Canada, he knew he wanted to help other people. This feeling became the backbone of his distinguished career. By the time he graduated from high school, Yee was sure he wanted to specialize in cancer research. “I saw medicine as a way to see how science can be applied to help patients,” he remembers.
Dr. Yee earned his bachelor’s of science and medical degrees at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Ontario. After completing an internship in Toronto at the Ontario Cancer Institute and a residency in internal medicine at Stanford University, he completed a fellowship program at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Free time is family time
Dr. Yee and his wife, a Seattle cardiologist who specializes in caring for women, have two children, who have "changed my life and also made me a better doctor," he says. “Having children helps you realize how precious every moment is and what’s really important in life."
Cassian Yee, MD
Dr. Yee is an expert in T cell therapy for the treatment of patients with cancer. Read more about Dr. Yee and his work at SCCA.Title
- Member, Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
- Professor, Medical Oncology Division, University of Washington School of Medicine
Clinical Expertise
T cell therapy for the treatment of patients with cancer. Immunology, Immunotherapy, Medical Oncology, Melanoma, Bone Marrow Transplantation
Education And Training
- University of Manitoba, 1986
- Ontario Cancer Institute 1987-89
- Stanford University Medical Center 1989-91
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center 1991-94
- University of Washington 1991-94