Piper Cancer Center Turns 10

The Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare this year celebrated its first decade of providing innovative cancer-treatment research.

Made possible by the generous philanthropy of many community donors and the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, the $25 million center heralded a new era in the approach to cancer treatment – designed by cancer survivors for cancer survivors, with virtually all needed services in a single location on the campus of Scottsdale Healthcare Shea Medical Center.

Planning for the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center involved casting a very broad net. We listened, we learned, especially from those touched by cancer. The feedback we heard inspired everyone involved to take personalized care to a higher level than ever before,” explains Tom Sadvary, president and CEO of Scottsdale Healthcare.

The center offers comprehensive cancer care and research through Phase I clinical trials, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and support services in collaboration with leading researchers and community oncologists.

The Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center’s significant achievements include:

Cancer Care Coordinators, a free “nurse navigator” service now duplicated in hospitals across the country.

Phase I clinical trials of investigative cancer drugs.

A Cancer genetic-risk program, exercise program, music- and art-therapy program and a cancer-information library open to the public.

First in Arizona to perform de Vinci robot-assisted surgery for treatment of prostate cancer and to use the Novalis shaped-beam radiation-therapy system for tumors untreatable by surgery.

Named primary clinical-research site for the Translational Genomics Research Institute and co-led site for the Stand Up to Cancer pancreatic cancer research Dream Team.

 – Keith Jones, director of public relations for Scottsdale Healthcare