UAB Synopsis, Vol. 27, No. 6, February 18, 2008

UAB’s Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) has embarked on a major initiative to help patients access and navigate its clinical services.

“The public already regards us as the regional leader in quality of research and quality and breadth of clinical programs,” Director and Evalina B. Spencer Chair in Oncology Edward E. Partridge, MD, says. “Our job now is to make it easier for the public to view us as equally stellar in service and the total patient care experience.”

The UAB Health System (UABHS) and University of Alabama Health Services Foundation (HSF) have allocated $4.5 million over 4 years from Patient ACCESS funds to implement the initiative. “This is the largest single reinvestment ever of UAB clinical dollars into the Cancer Center program,” UABHS Interim CEO Ray L. Watts, MD, says. “It will provide a transformation of how we care for cancer patients.”

“We appreciate the Health System and HSF support,” Dr. Partridge says. “Patients with an oncology diagnosis account for a significant proportion of admissions to UAB Hospital, so maintaining a strong clinical base is vital to all of us.”

Dr. Partridge has appointed Marty J. Heslin, MD, Division of Surgical Oncology, as associate director for clinical programs at the cancer center. Dr. Heslin, who organized a multidisciplinary clinic for gastrointestinal cancers, is responsible for managing and refining the Integrated Multidisciplinary Clinical Cancer Program (IMCCP), which includes leaders of all clinical cancer programs. The IMCCP will monitor and coordinate clinical programs to ensure smooth, family-friendly, and efficient clinic and doctor visits for all cancer patients and their caregivers.

New initiatives include:
Patient Care Coordinator Program: The coordinator in each clinical unit will contact every new patient following their referral and facilitate his or her arrival, coordinating diagnostic evaluations and multidisciplinary consultations, with the goal of delivering a treatment plan the same day.

Cancer Center Ambassador Program: A full-time coordinator of a volunteer corps will meet patients in person on their arrival and ensure they get from one appointment to the next.

Patient Navigator Program: This program recently received funding from the American Cancer Society and Astra-Zeneca to assist underserved and under-resourced patients and their families by providing a personal guide to help handle psychological, emotional, and financial matters.

Off-Hours Emergency Access: This program will ensure the appropriate oncology service will be called to the Emergency Department to assess and manage oncology patients.

In a State of the Cancer Center address in December, Dr. Partridge announced that more than 30 new faculty members are expected to join the Cancer Center over the next 5 years. In addition to five endowed oncology-related chairs to be filled, funding is available for eight new clinicians, primarily in medical oncology, and resources have been identified that will bring at least 20 new basic scientists to the faculty.

He also described administrative and program changes (See box below) and announced that the Wallace Tumor Institute will be renovated to make office and laboratory space available to new recruits and for other needs.

“These and other initiatives will build our patient and research base, allowing us to be very competitive by 2010 when we apply for National Cancer Institute renewal as a comprehensive cancer center,” Dr. Partridge says.

CCC Leadership
Senior Leadership
Edward E. Partridge, MD, Director
Kirby I. Bland, MD, Deputy Director
Associate Directors
Albert F. LoBuglio, MD, Clinical Research
Etty Benveniste, PhD, Basic Science
Seng-jaw Soong, PhD, Planning/Evaluation
Marty Heslin, MD, Clinical Programs
Mansoor N. Saleh, MD, Clinical Trials Network
Program Areas
Tumor Immunology:
David T. Curiel, MD, PhD
Donald J. Buchsbaum, PhD
Virology:
Richard J. Whitley, MD
Cancer Cell Biology:
J. Michael Ruppert, MD
Etty Benveniste, PhD
Experimental Therapeutics:
James A. Bonner, MD
Christopher A. Klug, PhD
Neuro-Oncology:
L. Burton Nabors, MD
Cancer Control/Population Sciences:
Edward E. Partridge, MD
Mona N. Fouad, MD, MPH
Women’s Cancer:
Ronald D. Alvarez, MD
Kirby I. Bland, MD
Cancer Chemoprevention:
Craig A. Elmets,MD
Clinton J. Grubbs, PhD
Drug Discovery and Development
(developing program):
Richard J. Whitley, MD
Mark Walter, PhD
Southern Research Institute