Elevating the Quality of Cancer Care via Cross-Department Collaboration

CancerNetwork® visited Sibley Memorial Hospital of Johns Hopkins Medicine to speak with a variety of experts about therapeutic advancements and ongoing research initiatives across several different cancer fields. As part of each discussion, clinicians highlighted how collaboration across different departments has positively affected treatment planning, decision-making, and outcomes at their institution.

These experts included the following:

• Rachit Kumar, MD, an assistant professor of radiation oncology and molecular radiation sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a radiation oncologist specializing in genitourinary and gastrointestinal cancers at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center for Sibley Memorial Hospital and Suburban Hospital;
• Michael J. Pishvaian, MD, PhD, director of gastrointestinal, developmental therapeutics, and clinical research programs and associate professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine;
• Nina Wagner-Johnston, MD, a professor of oncology and the director of lymphoma drug development at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, director of Hematologic Malignancies National Capital Region, and codirector of clinical research for hematologic malignancies;
• Valerie Lee, MD, an assistant professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a medical oncologist at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital;
• Armine Smith, MD, the director of urologic oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital and an assistant clinical professor of urology at the Brady Urological Institute of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine;
• Pouneh Razavi, MD, the director for breast imaging in the National Capital Region and an instructor in radiology and radiological science; and
• Curtiland Deville Jr, MD, medical director of the Johns Hopkins Proton Therapy Center and clinical director of radiation oncology at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital.

Altogether, their insights demonstrated how multidisciplinary teamwork has improved outcomes ranging from patient survival to health care resource utilization across a wide range of diseases, including breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, genitourinary cancer, and hematologic malignancies.