Clinical

Division of Hematology & Oncology:
CLINICAL

Hematology and Oncology faculty members have robust collaborations with colleagues in surgery, radiation therapy, pathology, and radiology that emphasize multidisciplinary patient care conducted through disease-specific teams. The division’s physicians and nurse practitioners provide inpatient and outpatient services on a daily basis, caring for patients with a wide range of hematologic and oncologic diseases, in a variety of settings: a 29-bed hematology/oncology inpatient unit; an eight-bed stem cell transplant unit; a consult service for patients with hematologic disorders admitted by other teams at UVA Medical Center; and a robust outpatient practice that is concentrated in the Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center. Chemotherapy is administered at the Couric Infusion Center as well as on the hospital inpatient ward, and bone marrow biopsies are performed by many members of the division faculty, on both an inpatient and outpatient basis.

The Division’s Hematologic Malignancy Team specializes in cancers of the blood and lymphatic systems. Dramatic advances have been made recently for many of these disorders, arising from new insights into their molecular biology and the application of novel targeted therapies, which complement or replace traditional chemotherapeutic and radiotherapy approaches. The recently established Leukemia Pathway Program at the Couric Center provides outpatient management for leukemia patients during induction and consolidation therapy.

The Stem Cell Transplant (SCT) program continues to strengthen. In February 2014, the SCT program was approved as a “low-volume transplant center” by the National Marrow Donor Program. This status allows the division to offer treatments such as matched unrelated allogeneic donor transplants to patients who would otherwise be referred to other institutions. With the expertise of the three SCT physicians and its clinical staff, 37 transplants (31 autologous and six allogeneic) were completed during FY 2014.

The Division’s Medical Oncology team has expanded its clinical depth by adding a number of new faculty specializing in gastrointestinal, head and neck, and thoracic (lung and esophageal) cancers. Two new sub-specialty clinics have been established, in geriatric oncology (an effort led by Erica Ramsdale) and hepatocellular carcinoma.

The Hematology/Oncology faculty see over 2,000 new patients each year in the Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center, and provide ongoing treatment in the ambulatory setting through 19,000 patient visits. We also collaborate with our colleagues in the UVA Community Cancer Care Centers in Charlottesville (Pantops), Fishersville, Culpeper and Farmville via consultations and coordinated care that allows patients access to UVA Cancer Center services at sites convenient to their homes.

The division conducts a wide range of clinical trials, with a special focus on monoclonal antibody, vaccine and novel targeted therapy approaches; its treatment program in high- dose interleukin-2, an immunotherapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma, is the only one of its kind in Virginia. A focus this year has been improving infrastructure for the clinical research program in coordination with the UVA Cancer Center’s Office of Clinical Research. Key accomplishments have been establishing funding for a manager who will oversee this mission for the division, and increasing the number of clinical research coordinators in support of new faculty members establishing their own clinical trials portfolio.

Clinical operations improvements in the division over the past year have included extending the hours for infusion; expanding the nurse practitioner staff to allow physicians to achieve maximum productivity in patient care; developing new service lines; and continuing efforts to streamline clinical and billing operations.