In this episode, we welcome Dr. Courtney W. Houchen, George Lynn Cross Research Professor and Chair of Oncology at the OU Health Sciences Center.
Dr. Houchen’s journey began in Brooklyn, where he was among the first children in the U.S. Head Start program. A love for math, science, and baseball led him to Howard and Atlanta University, where Nobel-trained mentors first introduced him to research. Choosing a summer in the lab over clinical shadowing changed everything as it opened the doors to one of the most competitive fellowships in gastroenterology and instilled in him a lifelong question: not just how to treat patients, but how to cure them.
That mindset led to groundbreaking work on cancer stem-like cells, the rare, drug-resistant drivers of tumor growth and metastasis. His discovery led him to file a patent and launch COARE, a biotech company founded to “kill cancer at its core.”
In this conversation, Dr. Houchen reflects on:
- The gauntlet of research and why mentorship and persistence matter.
- The pressures of academic medicine, where revenue often outweighs discovery.
- The power of networking, from cold-calling Harvard scientists to building collaborations across disciplines.
- The lessons of entrepreneurship, and why learning from others’ mistakes is essential.
- The future of research, from AI’s productivity boost to the promise of the immune system as the “holy grail” of science.
For Dr. Houchen, joy comes from finding connections that explain scientific phenomena. His parting challenge: How will we re-energize academic medicine?
Whether you’re a budding researcher, clinician-entrepreneur, or someone navigating the messy middle of science and academia, this episode offers lessons in grit, discovery, and resilience.
Quote to remember: “Even though I just wanted to be a doctor, my goal all my life was to cure cancer.” – Houchen, CW
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.