Leaders In Cancer Care
Reflecting on Scripps’ legacy of innovative cancer care
Reflecting on Scripps’ legacy of innovative cancer care
Patients have been at the center of cancer care at Scripps from the very beginning. Scripps Cancer Center founding medical director John Trombold, MD, and William Stanton, MD, the first medical director for Scripps Mercy Cancer Center (now known as Prebys Cancer Center), helped Scripps become the nationally recognized institution that it is today.
Scripps Cancer Center offers comprehensive diagnosis, treatment and prevention services with a collaborative team approach that ensures patients receive the best possible care throughout their journey.
“Dr. Trombold and Dr. Stanton both were leaders in recognizing that cancer is one of the more challenging periods in a person’s life and you need a compassionate team-based care plan that really puts the patient and their family at the center,” says Thomas Buchholz, MD, medical director of Scripps Cancer Center and a radiation oncologist at Scripps Clinic.
“That legacy continues today. We recognize that cancer care is highly complex. Our empathetic clinicians and technically superb oncologists, surgeons and radiation oncologists work together to ensure the best outcomes for patients.”
That focus on providing the best patient care is evident in Scripps Cancer Center’s commitment to innovation. From clinical trials that bring the bench to the bedside to treatment centers that use advanced technologies that can be customized to treat different types of cancer, Scripps capitalizes on the groundbreaking discoveries of past decades and continues to provide targeted and focused therapies. This increasingly specialized care means better outcomes for patients.
“Every year brings new opportunities for our cancer care community. When a new treatment or therapy becomes an approved standard of care, Scripps is quick to adopt and deploy these important new advances,” says Dr. Buchholz. “Most importantly, we do so with the legacy of those who have come before us here at Scripps who have really emphasized that patient-centric component of care.”
History of excellence and innovation
In the 1950s, Anita Figueredo, MD, the first female surgeon at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla and in San Diego, challenged the status quo. As an oncologist, she dedicated her career to cancer patients, setting a precedent for Scripps’ trailblazing spirit. In 1961, the Hematology/ Oncology Fellowship Program was established, which further solidified Scripps’ role as a leader, shaping the next generation of cancer specialists and researchers.
“We became a major teaching program for the West Coast in terms of training young doctors in hematology,” says James Mason, MD, hematologist and a medical oncologist at Scripps Clinic. “Many of the doctors here in the community and across the country trained at Scripps. We’re also putting doctors into academia, into universities, where they’ll be doing leading-edge research.”
Many more milestones followed: the first national conference on cancer in 1977, the development of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program in 1980, which was the first in San Diego County, and the pivotal 1980s discovery of the drug 2-CdA that revolutionized the treatment of hairy cell leukemia.
Scripps’ commitment to surgical excellence was highlighted with the commencement of the Mohs Micrographic Surgery Program in 1983, led by Hubert Greenway, MD, a direct trainee of Fred Mohs, MD, followed by the Mohs Micrographic Surgery and Dermatologic Oncology Fellowship in 1984. The fellowship is one of only two in the country to train three fellows per year in micrographic surgery and cutaneous oncology.
“There are other programs in the country, but we have one of the best, if not the best,” says Dr. Greenway, a dermatologist and head of Bighorn Mohs and Dermatology Center. “Our fellowship allows trainees to see a lot of difficult cases because we’re a referral center for dermatologists all over the Southwest. They also spend time working with our multidisciplinary team and do research.”
Clinical trials and leading-edge treatments
The 1993 participation in a National Institutes of Health breast cancer trial was a glimpse into Scripps’ dedication to clinical research. Scripps Radiation Therapy Center opened in 2012, marking a new era of precision and efficiency in cancer treatment at Scripps, courtesy of state-of-the-art linear accelerators. The latest versions now in use provide pinpoint accuracy for radiation treatments — down to less than a millimeter.
Ray Lin, MD, a Scripps Clinic radiation oncologist, reflects on the progress and looks to the future.
“What’s exciting about radiation therapy are the advancements in engineering and computing, and the biological advances that will help us be able to get patients the right treatments sooner,” says Dr. Lin. “There’s so much hope.”
A multidisciplinary approach and community impact
In recent years, Scripps has redefined comprehensive care by integrating multidisciplinary teams, launching special programs like the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Clinic in 2019 and opening the Prebys Cancer Center in 2021. The commitment to community health has been further reinforced through initiatives aimed at underserved populations, addressing health care disparities and empowering patients through technology.
Marin Xavier, MD, a Scripps Clinic medical oncologist who cofounded the Scripps Collaborative for Healthcare Equity, emphasizes the importance of inclusivity.
“We serve a very diverse cancer population, so we launched a robust research program here for cancer trials, particularly in areas such as leukemia and lymphoma,” she says. “We’re also working to enroll patients who are non-English speakers onto the MyScripps patient portal to give them access to their care team, which is proven to decrease ER visits and unplanned hospitalizations.”
Looking ahead with hope
Every year, the delivery of high-quality cancer care becomes more complex and requires a portfolio of resources and expertise. With an emphasis on multidisciplinary patient-centric care, the Scripps Cancer Center program and its providers continue to sub-specialize in specific cancer types, including areas such as neuro-oncology and ortho-oncology. New approaches to treating these cancer types are fueling an expansion of services. Scripps physicians use advanced treatment options, including minimally invasive robotic surgery, precise radiation therapy technologies and targeted therapies.
Scripps Cancer Center also continues to use the latest technology and research advancements in screening to detect cancer in its earliest stages when it is most treatable. In 2022, Scripps launched The Jana Oliphant Hackett Lung Cancer Screening Program to help improve early diagnosis for people across San Diego County who are at increased risk for developing lung cancer. The program has enrolled and screened hundreds of patients to date.
In 2024, Scripps celebrates a century of compassion, innovation and lifesaving care — where hope is not just a feeling, but a promise.
This content appeared in San Diego Health, a publication in partnership between Scripps and San Diego Magazine that celebrates the healthy spirit of San Diego.