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Oncologist Jacobs Leads UCSF Stanford Cancer Program |
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Charlotte Jacobs, an internationally known medical oncologist on the Stanford faculty, has been named director of clinical cancer programs for UCSF Stanford Health Care.
Bruce Wintroub, chief medical officer of UCSF Stanford Health Care, said Jacobs' new role will be to help develop, organize and integrate the cancer programs at UCSF Medical Center, UCSF/Mount Zion Medical Center, Stanford Hospital and Clinics and Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.Jacobs has served in a variety of roles at Stanford since 1977, including senior associate dean for education and student affairs for the School of Medicine from 1990 to 1997 and as director of the clinical cancer center at Stanford for the past two years. "Dr. Jacobs is both a seasoned administrator and an innovator in the delivery of care for cancer patients," said Wintroub. "Her ability to inspire trust and cooperation in those who work with her is matched only by her determination to focus attention on the ultimate goal - improving care for patients." It is the interdisciplinary nature or "multimodality" of cancer treatment that Jacobs mentions first when asked what an academic medical center can uniquely contribute in the field of cancer treatment. "For years now, surgeons, oncologists, radiologists and other specialists have collaborated in developing and delivering new combination treatments for specific types of cancer," she said. "For example, at Stanford, the multimodality approach resulted in breakthroughs in the treatment of Hodgkin's disease in the late '60s. At UCSF, the neuro-oncology and melanoma programs have long been distinguished by their interdisciplinary nature. While multimodality care may be best for patients, it can be complex to organize. There are more than 200 physicians within UCSF Stanford, spanning numerous departments and divisions, who are closely involved with cancer care. Many work together on specific types of cancer. For example, there are groupings for breast, gynecology, neuro-oncology, gastrointestinal, head and neck, urologic, AIDS-related, hematologic, thoracic, melanoma/skin, sarcoma and pediatric cancers. New facilities under development at both campuses are being designed with this multimodality approach in mind. The new facilities - the UCSF Clinical Cancer Center at Mount Zion and the Center for Cancer Treatment and Prevention at Stanford - are designed with the idea of centralizing services for cancer patients and maximizing physicians' access to each other and to ancillary services, Jacobs said. Jacobs lists her priorities in her new position as fourfold: 1) building a shared infrastructure for clinical research, 2) overseeing the transition to the new facilities, 3) strengthening operations and service within the programs and 4) assessing how best to interact with physicians throughout Northern California to improve cancer care regionally. Jacobs will have offices in both locations, and she will rely on a small leadership group including the associate directors of the Stanford and UCSF clinical cancer centers, the administrative directors of those programs and the directors of the clinical trials offices at both institutions, Wintroub said. There are also steering committees for cancer care at both institutions. Jacobs will continue to chair the Stanford steering committee and will participate actively in the UCSF committee, Wintroub added. Several projects under way are expected to encourage integration between the newly merged campuses. For example, the UCSF Stanford Tumor Board, a conference scheduled for next March at Silverado, will provide an opportunity for UCSF Stanford faculty to share the latest developments in cancer treatment with community physicians throughout the state. It will also be the setting for a private faculty retreat on clinical cancer research. In addition, Jacobs said she is enthusiastic about expanding the UCSF Web site that currently lists all clinical trials in a convenient format for community physicians by including Stanford clinical trials as well. Among certain clinical cancer services, integration seems to be occurring spontaneously. In particular, Jacobs cited the gynecologic, hematologic and pediatric cancer groups as especially active in cross-campus activities and planning. "If we can effectively support the faculty by building the appropriate structures for collaboration in research and patient care, we will succeed in advancing care not only for our patients, but for all patients," she said. |
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