I think this is the Center that Deb was talking about Tsdy

[RandyW]

Moving toward new Cancer Center

Michel Nolan, Staff Writer

Article Launched: 06/28/2008 07:11:19 AM PDT

For Dr. Mark Reeves, it's a center for healing.

For the cancer patients receiving treatment there, it's a center for hope.

Loma Linda University's new state-of-the-art Cancer Center, a lifesaving wonder of the Inland Empire, will integrate cancer diagnosis, treatment and research into one location.

Reeves, director of the new Cancer Center, came to the medical center eight years ago from New York City.

A nationally renowned cancer specialist and professor of surgery at Loma Linda University, Reeves, 47, is also chief of surgical oncology at the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Reeves is elated to see the broad range of comprehensive cancer treatment services that will come together in the four-phase project, expected to be completed sometime in 2010.

"We have options for care here that Inland Empire patients have never had before - one-stop chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, even a lab - in a single place. There are very few centers like this, where cancer proton radiation and robotic surgery can give patients the cutting edge. There are only two or three in the country and only one west of the Rockies," said Reeves.

Reeves will head a staff that is triple the number of medical oncologists currently available at LLUMC, which already operates the nation's largest proton beam treatment center for cancer. The team will treat five times the number of oncology patients currently receiving

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care at the medical center.

The first phase, located in the medical center's Schuman Pavilion and costing $18 million, opened in late April.

Encompassed in its 11,000-square-feet is a state-of-the-art medical oncology unit, where oncologists develop a treatment plan. There's also an infusion center, where patients receive chemotherapy in spaces designed for their maximum comfort.

The second phase will include breast cancer MRI screenings and biopsies in one place.

In the third phase, a symptom management clinic and resource center will serve patients who suffer any side effects from chemotherapy.

When completed, the 70,000-square-foot facility will feature a research center and 11 new cancer "Centers of Excellence," along with multidisciplinary treatment options and a dedicated team of Patient Care Navigators that will provide personalized patient assistance - from diagnosis through final treatment.

Specialty Centers of Excellence are the Breast Center; Gastrointestinal (stomach, liver, pancreas); Gynecology (ovaries); Head & Neck (thyroid); Hemo/Leukemia; Pediatric; Skin/Melanoma; Skeletal/Soft Tissue (sarcoma); Neurological (brain); Genitourinary (prostate); and Thoracic (lung).

"We're clearly seeing cutting-edge services that give Inland Empire patients options they've never had before, with medical, radiation and surgical oncology all in a single place," said Reeves, who conceptualized the idea for Loma Linda.

Not only has he been pivotal in the integration of the center's cancer treatments into one facility, Reeves also spearheaded the blending of multidisciplinary treatment plans to provide the best and most personalized care for each patient.

"We used patients as focus groups and asked them, `What makes your life miserable?' We used their input - we wouldn't be doing it right if we didn't use them as focus groups," he said.

After graduating summa **WORD NOT ALLOWED** laude from Loma Linda University in 1982 with a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry, Reeves went on to earn a PhD in biochemistry from UCLA in 1990. He earned his MD from the Loma Linda University School of Medicine in 1992.

Reeves and his wife, Michelle, a family practitioner at Loma Linda University Family Medical Center, have two young sons.

"I am most proud that we will be elevating cancer care here so it is comprehensive and efficient," Reeves said. "We will increase the survival rate - timeliness is the key in cancer. I am extremely elated and passionate about this center."