“Cancer, COVID-19, and Confusion”
Atrium Health’s Levine Cancer Institute has developed its own plan to prepare their healthcare facilities for the coronavirus pandemic. Now, the guidelines are being shared with cancer centers across the country.
As President of the Levine Cancer Institute, Dr. Derek Raghavan led the efforts on how to prepare the facilities, which handle about 200,000 patient visits per year for the coronavirus pandemic.
“Well, we found out that there wasn’t much there,” Dr. Raghavan said. So, they began to create their own playbook. This includes innovative initiatives like the LCI Emergency Food Relief Program, which provides immunocompromised cancer patients with nutritious foods delivered directly to the doorstep of their homes. Dr. Raghavan says they consulted physician leaders from China and Taiwan, initiated an international webinar, and created a physician workgroup of experts to finesse the plans. Read more on WBTV here
Join us for a WACC Distinguished Speaker Series virtual presentation with Dr. Derek Raghavan, President of Atrium Health’s Levine Cancer Institute as we learn more about LCI’s COVID-19 response. As a citizen of the world and leading medical expert, Dr. Raghavan has lived and worked in Argentina, Austria, Pakistan, Australia, and the UK.
News: Levine Cancer Institute Opens its First Clinical Trial for COVID-19
WACC Distinguished Speaker Series (virtual)
Date: Thursday, April 30, 2020
Time: 2:00 – 3:00 p.m..
Register online (Free to WACC members and non-members)
Biography
Derek Raghavan, MD, PhD, FACP, FRACP, an internationally-renowned cancer researcher and medical oncologist, is president of Carolinas HealthCare System’s Levine Cancer Institute. Since joining the Institute in April 2011, Dr. Raghavan has pioneered an innovative approach to cancer care that eliminates the natural barriers to top-quality care, such as distance to clinical and research sites, culture, access, and more. Dr. Raghavan’s clinical and research interests are focused on genitourinary cancer, cancer in the elderly, anticancer drug discovery and development, and comparative human oncology.
Dr. Raghavan has been instrumental in the development of the Institute’s community-based care efforts to address demographic and geographic disparities in screening and treatment, and the acquisition of more first in-human and Phase II clinical trial offerings to advance the study and treatment of cancer or cancer. Under his leadership, the Institute launched its first patient navigator academy which was one of the first for a health system in the country. The academy provided enhanced training to staff to help them guide cancer patients and their families through their care journey and transition oncology care to the most appropriate location for the patient.
Dr. Raghavan currently serves on the editorial board for numerous medical journals; has been a principal investigator for more than a dozen major research grants; has published more than 300 papers in peer-reviewed professional journals; has edited nine textbooks; and has been cited a clinical expert and thought leader on issues such as the value and cost of cancer care in several national and industry-leading media outlets including: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CNN, ABC News and Larry King. Additionally, he serves on the external advisory boards of cancer centers at Washington University, University of Miami, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Virginia Commonwealth University.
Prior to coming to the Institute, Dr. Raghavan served concurrent appointments as Chairman and Director of the Taussig Cancer Center at Cleveland Clinic and as the M. Frank and Margaret Domiter Rudy Institute (Distinguished) Chair in Translational Cancer Research. Under his leadership, the Institute progressed from a rating of No. 46 to No. 9 in U.S. News & World Report’s national ranking of top cancer hospitals. During that time he also was responsible for recruiting more than 70 top cancer professionals to the Clinic and for major initiatives like early clinical trials in genitourinary cancer, a clinical trial of circulating tumor cell assay that led to FDA approval for use as a prognostic tool for prostate cancer, and the establishment of a patient navigation program for underserved African Americans. Dr. Raghavan was also previously professor of medicine, professor of urology and chief of the Division of Oncology at the University of Southern California. He also served as associate director for clinical research at USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.
He began his medical career in Australia, carrying out clinical and laboratory research in genito-urinary and lung cancers. After 10 years in Australia, he was recruited to lead the departments Solid Tumor Oncology and Investigational Therapeutics at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY, where he was also professor of medicine at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Trained in Medicine and Oncology at the University of Sydney, Australia, Dr. Raghavan received a PhD in experimental pathology from the University of London/Ludwig Institute.