Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital, the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center and Washington University School of Medicine are pleased to announce a partnership that will bring a new cancer center to the campus of Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital.
Together, the three organizations will bring world-class cancer care to St. Charles County. Medical oncologist Timothy Pluard, M.D., has been named medical director of the new Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital and a faculty physician of Washington University School of Medicine. Trained at the School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School, Pluard brings over 15 years of experience as a medical oncologist, including the last 12 in St. Charles County. He will begin seeing patients on the hospital campus Feb. 1. His practice will move to the freestanding cancer center when construction is completed in late 2005. He will also see patients and teach at Siteman Cancer Center’s main location at Washington University Medical Center.
The new Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital will offer a complete array of services, including medical and radiation oncology; cancer screening programs; a full range of educational, nutritional, spiritual and support services for cancer patients and their families. Additionally all patients will have access to the cutting-edge research and treatment studies offered by the Siteman Cancer Center and Washington University School of Medicine. Siteman recently became the only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center in Missouri – and within a 240-mile radius of St. Louis.
“Together, we are excited to bring world-class cancer care to St. Charles County,” says BJSPH President David Ross. “Ultimately, this partnership gives St. Charles families access to nationally recognized cancer care through the Siteman Cancer Center and Washington University School of Medicine—right in their own neighborhood.”
“Being prepared to bring cutting-edge clinical services and clinical research studies to our community in the most convenient manner possible is part of what it means to be an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center,” says Timothy J. Eberlein, M.D., director of the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. “We are pleased that through this partnership we are able to bring these high-caliber services to the people of St. Charles and its surrounding communities.”
Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital is an ideal location for the new cancer center, as St. Charles County is home to more than 311,500 residents, more than 106,300 jobs and nearly 10,000 businesses. Not only is St. Charles County one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States, but in a recent telephone survey of county residents, almost three-fourths agreed that people in the community who are seriously ill need better access to hospital care.
The $7 million cancer center will cover 14,055 square feet on the hospital’s campus, next to the Outpatient Surgery and Endoscopy Center. When the new cancer center opens this fall, it will combine the convenience of a community hospital with the expertise of a nationally renowned cancer center and medical school. For the past two years, Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital has been voted No. 1 in St. Charles County in the Suburban Journals’ annual readers’ poll. The Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine ranked No. 13 among the nation’s cancer centers by U.S. News & World Report magazine.
Last year Washington University physicians at Siteman treated nearly 6,000 new cancer patients and provided access to more than 350 clinical trials. Overall support for cancer research and related training grants totals approximately $130 million a year. The new partnership with Barnes-Jewish St Peters Hospital is an extension of the current established relationship between Washington University School of Medicine, one of the top three schools of medicine in the country and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the largest hospital in Missouri and the primary adult teaching hospital of Washington University. Siteman also has offices in West St. Louis County.
Questions can be directed to 636-928-WELL or visit www.bjsph.org or www.siteman.wustl.edu.