Dear Friends and Colleagues:

It is with great pleasure that we report on another excellent year at Saint Louis University Cancer Center. Our center and hospital staff, administrators, and Saint Louis University School of Medicine faculty have again strived to provide the highest level and most compassionate care to our patients. We greatly appreciate the trust that our patients and their referring physicians have in our abilities to care for such a special group of individuals.

This has been a significant year for the Cancer Center on many fronts. Our outreach program, aimed at educating our community as to the risks and signs of cancer and how to lead a healthy lifestyle, had its busiest year to date. A highlight was our emphasis on detecting prostate and head and neck cancer through complimentary screenings at several events in the region.

In the last year, Saint Louis University Cancer Center and Saint Louis University Hospital became providers of the Show Me Healthy Women program, administered through the State of Missouri. This program improves underinsured and uninsured patients' access to breast and cervical cancer screenings. We have also, with support from the Saint Louis affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure^®, introduced a breast cancer nurse navigator position to help our breast cancer patients negotiate the pathway from initial screening to diagnosis and treatment. Our center also has housed the Komen "Bridging the Gap" program to help women in the region who are facing financial hardships while undergoing breast cancer treatment.

This year we welcomed Christy Doherty, M.D., as our new mammographer. Dr. Doherty has expertise in the latest techniques in breast cancer imaging and has brought her enthusiasm for women’s health to the campus. We are celebrating her arrival with a newly equipped digital mammography suite.

The Hereditary Cancer program, headed by Suzanne Mahon, R.N., DNSc., AOCN, APNG, continues to be an excellent resource for information as well as preemptive interventions for patients with inherited forms of cancer. Dr. Mahon continues to serve a large population of patients who need her services, regardless of their ability to pay.

In the past year, the American College of Surgeons (ACOS) visited our facilities, which resulted in our program earning reaccreditation by the group's Commission on Cancer. For more information on this prestigious honor, please see Dr. Dombrowski's report from the Cancer Committee.

I hope you enjoy reviewing this year’s annual report and learn more about the many exciting developments that have taken place at Saint Louis University Cancer Center. Thank you for your continued interest and support.

Mark A. Varvares, M.D, FACS

Director, Saint Louis University Cancer Center

Professor and Chairman, Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery

Donald and Marlene Jerome Endowed Chair in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery