Faculty and Research

Comment on my health:

I want to share some personal information with you regarding my health. I was diagnosed in early December with a type of cancer called follicular lymphoma. As my doctors have refined their diagnosis, our sense for what my prospects might be has evolved. As a consequence, those who learned of this early were given a discouraging prognosis, whereas those who were informed later received a much more optimistic vision. As a result, I thought it might be helpful to all of you if I summarized here how I’m doing and what the future seems to hold. I will update this as news emerges from my treatment.

Follicular lymphoma is a slow-growing, small-cell cancer that historically has been much harder to treat than fast-growing, large-cell cancers, because chemotherapy is most effective on fast-growing cells. On the spectrum between large and small, my particular sub-type is about in the middle. A monoclonal antibody drug from Genentech called Rituxan has greatly improved the prognosis for people with my type of cancer — the five-year survival rate is over 95%. For most patients, follicular lymphoma cannot be cured. Although it goes into remission, it flares up again and again — essentially a chronic disease. In my case, however, given the somewhat larger size and growth energy of my cancer cells, the doctors are holding out a significant hope that my cancer can actually be cured. So we feel very optimistic that I’ll be able to live productively for many more years thanks to scientific advances and because we feel so greatly blessed by our Father in Heaven and lifted by the faith of so many wonderful friends.

I’m in the midst of chemotherapy, which is administered in six three-week cycles and should be complete in April. In the week following treatment I need to slow down (and I have lost my hair), but otherwise I am able to continue a relatively normal work schedule — which my doctors have encouraged me to do. So I’m continuing with all of my responsibilities at HBS as well as helping companies use my research to manage more successfully.

This has been a sobering experience, but my wonderful wife, Christine, our five children, and I feel very blessed overall. We are confidently optimistic that all will be well, and are deeply grateful for your support, prayers, and faith.

Clayton Christensen

 

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Featured Work

Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns
by Clayton M. Christensen, Curtis W. Johnson, Michael B. Horn, McGraw Hill, 2008

According to recent studies in neuroscience, the way we learn doesn't always match up with the way we are taught. If we hope to stay competitive-academically, economically, and technologically—we need to rethink our understanding of intelligence, reevaluate our educational system, and reinvigorate our commitment to learning. In other words, we need “disruptive innovation.”

Additional Information

• Clay Christensen on Innovation [Harvard Business Voices]