Lacks Cancer Center Breast Services selects director after two-year search

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

Leaders at Saint Mary’s Health Care knew that finding a surgical oncologist to head up an entire division of cancer services wouldn’t be easy. But they didn’t think it would take a full two years.

In August, Dr. Jamie Caughran, a surgical oncologist and a specialist in all types of breast diseases, joined the staff as the first-ever director of Saint Mary’s Comprehensive Breast Center at Lacks Cancer Center in Grand Rapids.

“You need multiple people [on a patient’s care team],” says Dr. Tom Gribbin, medical director of Lacks Cancer Center. “You need a medical oncologist, a radiation oncologist, a surgeon, a radiologist, maybe physical therapists. How do you bring all these people together to find the right answer for a patient?”

“Dr. Caughran is the surgeon in a lot of these cases,” says Dr. Gribbin, “and makes sure that all the other people are on the cutting edge of how we approach the breast cancer.”

Caughran completed her residency in Grand Rapids and an additional year of specialized training in breast disease at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.

“We did a lot of work at the breast cancer clinic and talked to the doctors and looked at medical information,” says Kenda Klotz, clinical services director. “We felt very strongly that we wanted to have this subspecialist and our patients were telling us they wanted a female surgeon.”

Saint Mary’s was the first hospital in Grand Rapids to use a team approach in caring for breast cancer patients. Meeting with each specialist separately can take up to two months before a treatment plan is in place and treatment begins. With the team approach, the patient meets with the entire team of specialists at one time and usually has a treatment plan within days of diagnosis.

Source: Dr. Tom Gribbin and Kenda Klotz, R.N., MPA, Saint Mary’s Health Care

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.