The newest hybrid academic-community cancer center announced today the start of a relationship with one of the oldest and most respected cancer centers to facilitate increased quality of cancer care and access to clinical trials for more patients.
and Baptist Health South Florida's agreed to take the first step in MCI's joining the , a partnership between MSK and community oncology providers that currently includes Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute in Connecticut and Lehigh Valley Health Network in Pennsylvania.
In a telephone interview monitored by a media relations representative, Baptist Health COO Wayne Brackin told 51˶ that discussions with MSKCC began about 18 months ago. First steps, he said, include a standards-of-care review by MSK to ensure optimal performance under the agreement.
That review will begin in April, 1 month after Michael J. Zinner, MD, MCI's new CEO and executive medical director begins his tenure. Zinner comes to MCI from Boston where he served as surgeon-in-chief at Brigham and Women's Hospital, clinical director of the Brigham/Dana-Farber cancer center, and Moseley professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School.
The MSKCC affiliation was a factor in Zinner's decision to move south. "After spending my entire career in academic medical centers I would not have been interested in simply a community hospital role that did not have academic affiliations to advance the science of cancer therapies," Zinner said in a telephone interview, which was a monitored by public relations representative.
Zinner added that in addition to assuring that MCI clinical programs meet the stringent MSKCC standards, he was continuing to recruit clinicians from academic centers; was looking forward to increasing clinical trials at MCI. His goal, he said, was to establish MCI as a regional brand.