How northeast Indiana is bringing the nation’s leading cancer care closer to home

Richard Zhang, MD, is quite familiar with MD Anderson Cancer Center.

As a medical oncologist and hematologist at the Parkview Cancer Institute, Zhang completed several clinical rotations during his medical training. And now, the Parkview Cancer Institute is a certified member of MD Anderson Cancer Network®, a program of MD Anderson Cancer Center.

As part of the affiliation, the certified physicians of Parkview Cancer Institute will tap into the expertise of MD Anderson and may collaborate with the institution’s faculty to develop treatment plans for patients.

“Now, I have the pleasure of collaborating with their physicians once again to advance the level of care being delivered to our patients,” Zhang says. “I have access to more expertise, more research and more resources than would normally be available to me. For patients in northeast Indiana, northwest Ohio and southern Michigan, this means more options for treatment.”

As a member of MD Anderson Cancer Network, Parkview Cancer Institute’s certified physicians have access to evidence-based guidelines, treatment plans, and concordance studies developed by the experts at MD Anderson. These are disease-specific guidelines for cancer treatment, cancer prevention, early detection, and follow-up care.

Dr. Neil Sharma, president of the Parkview Cancer Institute, explains what this means for patients.

“This affiliation allows Parkview to access best practices from the experts at MD Anderson and merge them with our own high standards of care,” he says. “Our local physicians can work with physicians in Houston, developing a comprehensive treatment plan that is centered around the patient. This combines the best of what we do locally with the expertise of a national leader.”

Nationally Recognized Expertise

As the leading cancer center in the nation, MD Anderson’s mission is to end cancer. To fulfill this mission, the institution extends access to its evidence-based care model to hospitals and health systems that share its patient-centered values and dedication to high-quality care via MD Anderson Cancer Network.

“MD Anderson’s mission and values naturally aligned with the Parkview Cancer Institute’s patient-centered care model and sub-specialized care teams,” says Scott James, chief operating officer of the Parkview Cancer Institute. “We are excited to see how this collaboration elevates the quality of cancer care in our region and—more importantly—how it helps us to better serve our patients.”

The Parkview Cancer Institute joins 17 other hospitals and health systems as certified members across 15 states. Parkview Cancer Institute joins Community Health Network in Indianapolis and Deaconess Health System in Evansville as the third certified member in Indiana.

Zhang has already collaborated with MD Anderson physicians on patient treatment plans, and he emphasizes that both organizations are focused on offering leading cancer care.

“MD Anderson’s slogan is ‘Making Cancer History,’” he says. “At Parkview, we say ‘We believe in Better.’ Together, we’re bringing better cancer care to our region to ultimately end cancer.”