Cancer Committee Chair’s Report
and Cellular Therapy (TCT) Program in 2021. During 2023, 43 bone marrow transplant patients were treated but most exciting was the administration of the first chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) therapies in East Tennessee by the TCT team. This cutting-edge treatment frontier will allow us to serve an increasing number of patients in our area. In fact, our cancer goal for 2023 was to apply for national accreditation from the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy. This application process is ongoing, and we look forward as this accreditation, finalizing in 2024, will allow us to collaborate with other organizations around the country. We are quite proud of this growth. We also continue to serve our patients experiencing cancer-related lymphedema with advanced prevention and treatment modalities. We remain the only center in the state of Tennessee who offers advanced surgical treatment options for lymphedema, including lymphovenous bypasses and vascularized lymph node transfer. One of our proudest achievements of the year is the opening of our Regional Health Center in Halls, which contains both medical office space as well as imaging services. In the new Halls Breast Center, we were able to provide 2,408 screening mammograms. We also began administering chemotherapy in Halls, even as we continued to see record numbers of patients take advantage of the oncology services at the other Regional Health Centers (Lenoir City and Sevierville) as well as our regional sites at Maryville, Alcoa and Turkey Creek. All of these accomplishments have come about through the coordinated work of our team. This past year, we added three new physicians and two new midlevel providers, as well as new ancillary staff to the ranks, with each of us dedicated to providing world class care to our community here in East Tennessee.
As I reflect on the past year, I remain humbled and awe- struck by the work being accomplished here at The University of Tennessee Medical Center in the treatment of cancer. We continue to provide world-class care across the spectrum of adult cancers, with new frontiers being forged through research, education and clinical care. From a research perspective, we have continued to participate in clinical trials, both internally and externally sponsored, which allows us to provide patients with the most cutting-edge treatment options. In the past year, we enrolled 76 patients into clinical trials. The Bettie and Oscar Bragg Cancer Research Endowment has also funded internal research projects that are focused on a variety of different cancer types exploring innovative ideas to both treat and prevent disease. From an education standpoint, we welcomed our second set of hematology/oncology fellows, in addition to the residents, medical students and ancillary students who rotate regularly throughout the Cancer Institute. They are able to take advantage of the broad spectrum of diseases that we routinely treat in order to gain insight and training in their own career paths. We were also proud to offer the Big Four Cancer Conference this past fall which drew record attendance and offered high level-training and information to our colleagues. From a clinical perspective, though, we probably saw our greatest advancement in the field of transplant and cellular therapy. We successfully launched the Transplant
Jillian Lloyd, MD, MPH 2023 Cancer Committee Chair Breast Surgeon, Section Chief, Breast Surgical Oncology
Cancer Institute Annual Report | 5
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