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Vincent Armenio, MD, a hematologist-oncologist who is Chair of Medicine at Roger Williams, discusses treatment with a patient. "For exa mple, a prima r y ca re doctor might ca ll me," he expla ins. " There is a patient who has a mass on the pancreas. I ju s t t el l t he phy sicia n t o send t he patient in with their sca ns, a nd we ca n get ever y thing done right here. Their testing is done in 24 hours, a nd they get their blood work immediately. I ca n get a biopsy; I ca n get a CT sca n, a refer- ra l to a surg ica l oncolog ist , a nd then a f ter the surger y is done, if they need chemotherapy or radiation therapy, I ca n get that treatment for them right here, too." COMPARABLE TO BOSTON The level of ca re provided by the tea m at the Roger Willia ms Ca ncer Center is so comprehensive that Dr. Espat believe it compa res favorably to that provided at renowned academic ca ncer centers in Boston a nd New York. "I ca n say unequivoca lly that we're t he on ly prog ra m in R hode Isla nd to have bot h a med ica l oncolog y a nd a surgica l oncolog y fellowship, and that 's ver y impor ta nt because you have the next generation of both cancer surgeons a nd medica l oncolog y physicia ns who a re being tra ined," he says. " That puts us on the cutting edge of the education and the research both in medicine and in surger y, a nd you have to go to Boston or New York to f ind a simila r consor tium of both medicine a nd surger y." A nd t he volu me of ca ses t h at t he Center sees a lso puts it a head of sev- era l h i g h ly touted ca ncer prog ra m s in Boston. "I would go on record saying that we do more liver a nd pa ncreas ca ncer ca re than severa l of the hospita ls in Boston," says Dr. Espat. " You would have to go a ll the way dow n to New York to beat t he numbers of t he patients we ta ke ca re of here." T he C ent er 's r e c ent de s i g n a t ion by t he Com m ission on Ca ncer a s a n A c a d e m i c C ompr e h e n s i v e C a n c e r Center Prog ra m bea rs out Dr. Espat 's claim. Of the 5,200 or so cancer centers that the Commission on Cancer accred- its across the countr y, only 13 percent hold that desig nation. CONNECTIVIT Y Asked to come up with one word to sum up what it is about the way physicia ns at the Roger Willia ms Ca ncer Center treat their patients, both Drs. Espat and A rmenio ag ree that it 's connectivit y. " We're like two high school buddies who spend a n hour on the phone pretty much ever y n ig ht , ta l k i ng about t he pat ient s we're c u r rent ly ca r i n g for toget her a nd t he patients t hat we're about to ca re for," says Dr. Espat. "I've been at Sloa n Ket tering; I've been at the Universit y of Illinois; I've been at some big programs, and the level of com- munication here between the medica l doctor and the surgeon is unpara lleled." Dr. A rmenio concurs a nd a lso notes t hat , even a s cha i rs of t hei r respec- t ive depa r t ment s , he a nd D r. E spat sti l l spend the majorit y of their days seeing patients. M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S S O U T H O F B O S T O N / R H O D E I S L A N D ■ 2 016 1 9