Early in his career, William Farrar, MD, learned an important lesson from his mentor, Arthur G. James, MD. “The patient comes first … and I practiced that through my entire career,” said Farrar, who recently retired after a remarkable 46-year career at the OSUCCC – James. In this episode, we spend some time with Farrar, who was CEO of the James Cancer Hospital when he retired. He talks about the impact and legacy of Dr. James and his multi-decade quest to create a cancer hospital in Columbus; the creation of the Stefanie Spielman Comprehensive Breast Center that Farrar led; and the amazing advances in treating cancer patients during his long career. “But we need to keep working and continue to move forward,” Farrar said, echoing another lesson he learned from Dr. James. Farrar was determined to become a surgeon from an early age, and he worked in hospitals in his hometown of Aurora, Illinois during his high school years. He was an outstanding multi-sport athlete and set a record that still stands at Illinois Wesleyan University: five interceptions in one game. He came to Ohio State in 1975 as a surgical resident. A few years later, Farrar was named the hospital’s first oncology surgical fellow. Farrar has performed about 20,000 cancer surgeries over the decades, treating every type of cancer except brain cancer, before he eventually specialized in breast cancer in the early 2000s. “It’s phenomenal to me the advances we’ve made [in treating patients], it’s mind boggling,” Farrar said of the development of advanced radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. Over the decades, Farrar played an important role at the OSUCCC – James in leading the research, clinical trials and treatments that have helped develop these treatment options and improved the outcome for thousands of patients. He called his career “very gratifying,” adding that “a cancer journey for a patient is also a cancer journey for the doc.”