“Every year about 49,000 of our co-residents in the state of New Jersey get diagnosed with cancer. About 4,000 of them come from right around here.” So said Dr. Andrew Pecora, M.D., F.A.C.P., C.P.E., at the ribbon cutting on March 11 for the new John Theurer Cancer Center (JTCC) on the grounds of the Palisades Medical Center.
“Many people feel or have felt in the past the need to go elsewhere to get their cancer care,” he continued. “And maybe 10, 20 years ago that was true. But it’s not true anymore.”
Dr. Pecora is the chief innovations officer and professor and vice president of cancer services for Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC). Palisades Medical Center formed an alliance with the HUMC three years ago to provide expanded and upgraded patient care to residents of Hudson County.
The John Theurer Cancer Center has been serving cancer patients at various locations throughout the HUMC network for 30 years. It has been recognized by US News & World Report as the number one cancer center in New Jersey.
“When we joined with Hackensack back in 2012 this was part of our dream,” said Palisades Medical Center President and CEO Bruce J. Markowitz about the new JTCC facility on the hospital grounds. “As of today, our local communities will have access to world-class cancer care right here on our campus. There will be disease-specific experts that will focus on providing personalized care for all types of patients; adolescents and adults.”
“There will be disease-specific experts that will focus on providing personalized care for all types of patients.” –Bruce J. Markowitz
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Targeted specialists
According to Dr. Pecora, the JTCC’s mission is “attracting the brightest and best doctors from around the United States that focus on a single disease area. So if you have leukemia, you see someone who wrote the book on leukemia. If you have breast cancer, you see a team of people that wrote the book on breast cancer. That’s what you get at the John Theurer Cancer Center, and that’s why in a very brief period of time it’s grown to become one of the most renowned cancer programs in the United States.”
Already the new facility at Palisades Medical Center has treated 30 patients, with more than half a dozen receiving chemotherapy.
“We are entering an era of personalized medicine, precision medicine,” said Pecora. “People are going to be treated on the basis of their own genomic profile. That’s going to be very difficult to do if you’re a community oncologist in an office with a couple of chairs. [But] that’s what we do every day.”
Robert C. Garrett is president and CEO of HUMC. “We are really looking forward to continuing to offer Hackensack’s expertise to make the great programs down here at Palisades even better, and to offer new programs and services like this John Theurer Cancer Center to the residents of Hudson County,” he said. “We all know Hudson County is changing. It’s growing. The demographics are changing. And one of the goals of our health network is to keep patient care in the state of New Jersey. There’s no reason that people have to travel across that river or to other states to receive quality care that’s given right here in the state of New Jersey.”
Benefits of a larger network
Last year HUMC announced plans to merge with Meridian Health “to create the largest, most influential, and best healthcare system in the state of New Jersey,” according to Markowitz. Regulatory approval is underway, with the resulting organization to be called Hackensack Meridian Health.
HUMC has also formed a partnership with Georgetown University for cancer research. “We announced this past year a regional immunotherapy discovery program, which has a lot of promise in really revolutionizing cancer care,” said Garrett.
JTCC and Georgetown have already established a bone marrow transplant program, the first in Washington, D.C., at the Lombardi Cancer Center.
In addition, JTCC is joining with Seton Hall University to create a brand new medical school. Georgetown will also be participating in the project. “That means that the latest protocols, the latest research will be available to patients right here in New Jersey,” said Garrett.
The CEOs of both HUMC and Palisades Medical Center praised North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco for his support and assistance over the years. “We’re proud to be part of your community,” said Garrett. “We’re proud to offer world-class services and programs to the residents of North Bergen.”
“Bruce [Markowitz] and I had a discussion many years ago that we would know when Palisades Medical Center had arrived when there was a need for expansion of the campus into medical buildings,” said Sacco. “This is phenomenal. For North Bergen, for Hudson County, for the entire region.”
Art Schwartz may be reached at arts@hudsonreporter.com.