Hartford Business Journal Special Editions

www.HartfordBusiness.com • June 11, 2018 • Hartford Business Journal 31 SPONSORED CONTENT Continued > There is strength in numbers. When this strength comes in the form of an alliance between renowned cancer scientists and physicians — all working together on innovative research and treatment methods to determine successful outcomes — cancer has a unified, formidable foe. Its patients have comprehensive, cutting-edge care. The partnership between Smilow Cancer Hospital and Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center — part of Trinity Health Of New England — is built on many things; among them a well-forged relationship, robust history and a determined search for a cure. Groundbreaking clinical-trial access is only one of the many benefits. "This is bringing cancer care to the next level, in a well-oiled, multidisciplinary approach," said Dr. John Rodis, president of Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, of the partnership. "We have state-of-the-art imaging, biopsies, surgeries--- it's our Saint Francis physicians and those from Yale, with surgeons, radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists — all working together discussing your care. It's a tailored treatment plan and information on clinical trials. Our goal is to provide high-tech, yet high-touch, patient-centered care to the patients of our community." And it's all right in Hartford. Rock-solid foundation Smilow Cancer Hospital has its foot firmly planted in the future of healthcare as it relates to the disease, with myriad research efforts underway at all times. But Abe Lopman, Smilow's senior vice president of operations and executive director, notes that especially in terms of cancer care, Yale New Haven Hospital — the Yale University teaching hospital of which Smilow facility is a part — has always been a step ahead as well. "We are the site of the first chemotherapy in the world; it was delivered here at Yale," Lopman said. Yale Cancer Center, a collaboration between physicians and scientists from Yale School of Medicine and Smilow Cancer Hospital, is the only National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Center in Connecticut, said Lopman, and was one of the very first established, during President Richard Nixon's War on Cancer in the early 1970s. "Being an NCI-designated cancer center reflects that we are a major resource in the field of cancer," added Arthur Lemay, executive director, Smilow Cancer Network, especially in the area of clinical trials. National cancer centers like Yale base their areas of study and treatment on what best benefits patients in the communities where they are located, offering potentially key information that can be used for national cancer priorities in treatment and areas of study as well. Team approach Saint Francis Hospital has been at the forefront of cancer innovation in its own right. For example, it was the first in the state to introduce the CyberKnife, a non-surgical option in treating tumors of the spinal cord, prostate, brain, lung and stomach. Rodis said the hospital has long standing relationship with Yale New Haven Health in areas of training and clinical collaboration, including aspects of its cardiac program, transplant surgery, and in the form of surgical sub-specialty partnerships. The hospitals' cancer efforts were of the same high-quality caliber, with dedicated, skilled physicians and researchers and a patient- centered care model. The 2015 announcement of the Saint Francis-Smilow partnership, then, was a logical step. The value to patients was undeniable. We have a solid, strong cancer hospital," Rodis said of Saint Francis, "and saw benefit in partnering with a branded organization. We felt we could have a strong, solid, symbiotic, true partnership — not just a brand on a billboard — but a truly, integrated program. [Smilow] met that need." In the industry overall, other hospitals had begun teaming up with larger cancer hospitals, he said, such as Hartford HealthCare's Cancer Institute and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, a partnership announced in 2014. Patients win Dr. Jonathan Sporn is medical director of the oncology service line at Saint Francis Hospital. He said that the partnership with Smilow is empowering for all concerned. "As a clinician, it provides great value to me in terms of what I can do for my patients, such as access to high-level clinical trials we wouldn't have had access to before." Fortunately, the new alliance did not require major overhauls on the administrative or clinical sides. www.HartfordBusiness.com June 11, 2018 • Hartford Business Journal 25 "This is bringing cancer care to the next level, in a well-oiled, multidisciplinary approach. Our goal is to provide high-tech, yet high- touch, patient-centered care to the patients of our community." - Dr. John Rodis " "This is bringing cancer care to the next level, " "This is bringing cancer care to the next level, " touch, patient-centered care to the patients " touch, patient-centered care to the patients of our community." " of our community."

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