cancer center expansion
This year, St. Francis announced a bold vision for the Upstate: to battle cancer with Faith, Hope and Expertise. Since the announcement, the response from patients, families, physicians and the St. Francis family of staff, volunteers and community supporters has been remarkable.
We have already witnessed extraordinary growth throughout the continuum of care in cancer services: at Upstate Oncology Associates; with our Stem Cell Transplant Unit; in the number of our clinical trials being offered in oncology, and in our St. Francis Infusion Services.
Along with this growth, St. Francis has held our programs to the most rigorous standards of accountability. In addition to earning the American College of Surgeon’s Commission on Cancer award with commendation – one of the only facilities in the state to receive this prestigious award – our Blood and Marrow Transplant Program again received national accreditation from FACT (Foundation for Accreditation Cellular Therapy) with special recognition.
Now we are looking to add new treatments, new clinical trials, and potential new facilities to our already world renowned staff of hematologist/oncologists.
New Treatments
According to the American College of Radiation Oncology, close to one-third of all newly diagnosed cancer patients are referred for radiation therapy. Additionally, 15-25% of oncology patients with current cases receive further radiation during the course of their cancer treatment.
St. Francis has submitted a Certificate of Need (CON) application to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control for approval to add a Radiation Therapy Program along with adding a state-of-the-art linear accelerator. This will ensure that patients who choose St. Francis can receive all of their treatments within St. Francis’ setting of compassion and clinical excellence.
Adding Radiation Therapy to our oncology services is not a short-term project. The best-case scenario would have the program opening in late 2013 or in 2014.
Clinical Trials
Providing the same options as leading national cancer centers, St. Francis offers early phase trials for malignancies - sometimes the first human trials for medications. St. Francis is also the only community cancer provider in the country with access to industry trials that are normally offered only to a select group of leading national cancer programs.
An institutional review board of physicians, community members and cancer survivors meets monthly to review research studies available to St. Francis patients. St. Francis currently is involved with multiple clinical trials, about 90 percent of those being cancer related. Clinical trials aimed at preventing cancer also are available to some people who are high risk for developing certain forms of the disease.
New Facilities
Long-range plans at St. Francis call for the construction of a new, state-of-the-art cancer facility at the ST. FRANCIS millennium campus. This facility would include all of our oncology services under one roof, from medical oncology and chemotherapy to infusion services and the proposed radiation therapy program.
The facility is currently in the planning stages, and a Certificate of Need (CON) application is under review at the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
World Renowned Hematologists/Oncologists
Our medical directors, Dr. Gary Spitzer and Dr. Frits van Rhee, are two of the most respected and internationally-recognized hematologists/oncologists in the country. They are at the helm of building our new cancer program, and from their bios below, you will see that this program is in the best of hands.
Gary Spitzer, MD
Dr. Spitzer is an internationally-known physician with more than 30 years of experience in hematology and oncology. He was one of the early pioneers in bone marrow transplantation at M.D. Anderson Hospital, and has headed hematology/oncology and bone marrow transplantation departments at St. Louis University and Georgetown University. He performed the first autologous transplants in myeloma and Hodgkin's disease and has held a leadership role in blood and lymph node cancers. He has built strong relationships, nationally and internationally, while working in academia and research, and as a specialized clinician. Dr. Spitzer is extensively published, with more than 500 manuscripts and articles, and is responsible for the development of curative regimens for Hodgkin's lymphoma and other hematologic malignancies of which we now consider standard of care.
Devena Alston-Johnson, MD
Devena E. Alston-Johnson, MD, a native of Brooklyn, New York, joined
Upstate Oncology Associates in 2010. Dr. Alston received her
undergraduate degree from Brooklyn University. After receiving her
doctor of medicine degree she completed an internship and residency in
Internal Medicine at Mt. Sinai and Elmhurst Hospitals in East Elmhurst,
New York. Dr. Alston-Johnson then completed a fellowship in
Hematology/Oncology at Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. She
previously worked as an oncologist at La Porte Hospital & Health
System in Indiana where she served as chair of the Cancer Committee and
president of the Medical Staff. At Northwest Indiana Oncology she
participated in the cancer committee, tumor boards and clinical research
programs. She joins us most recently from Community Cancer Care in
Indianapolis.
Dr. Alston-Johnson specializes in many areas of oncology, including Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), Chronic Lymphotic Leukemia, Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia, Myeloma, Lung, Breast, Colorectal/GI, Prostate, Melanoma, and Sarcoma.
