King's Daughters Medical Center Joins UK Markey Research Network

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 26, 2015) – The University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center announced Wednesday that King's Daughters Medical Center in Ashland, Ky., has joined the Markey Cancer Center Research Network, a newly launched initiative conducting high priority cancer research through a network of collaborative centers with expertise in the delivery of cancer care and conduct of research studies.

Thousands of patients across eastern Kentucky, southern Ohio and West Virginia will have close-to-home access to innovative clinical research studies in the treatment and epidemiology of cancer as well as research studies in the prevention and early detection of cancer.

The team at King's Daughters Medical Center was invited to participate based on their previous experience in conducting oncology research. King's Daughters has participated in research with Markey for more than 25 years, enrolling more than 450 patients from nine surrounding counties in nearly 50 different cancer clinical studies in that time. Their active clinical research studies included those initiated at UK as well as national research studies sponsored by the National Cancer Institute in the National Clinical Trials Network. This long-standing oncology research portfolio will expand as a result of joining the Markey Research Network.

Dr. David Goebel, oncologist/hematologist at King's Daughters, said that this formal membership in the Markey Cancer Center Research Network would further King's Daughters' already strong relationship with the oncology researchers at UK.

"This research collaborative helps our patients with the best options to battle cancer," Goebel said. "The benefit of these studies not only can help the person with cancer, but also provide insight into treating others."

Clinical research studies are key to developing new methods to prevent, detect and treat cancer, and most treatments used today are the results of previous clinical studies.  These may include studies in which patients who need cancer treatment receive their therapy under the observation of specially trained cancer doctors and staff. Patients who volunteer for cancer treatment studies will either receive standard therapy or a new treatment that represents the researchers’ best new ideas for how to improve cancer care.

The portfolio of available clinical research studies for each Markey Research Network member will be targeted, focusing both on the areas with the highest burden of disease, and the types of cancers that most affect these overburdened regions. Appalachia has some of the highest rates of cancer incidence and mortality in the country, especially for lung, colorectal, and cervical cancers.

As a member of the Markey Research Network, the physicians at King's Daughters Medical Center will offer the opportunity to consider participation in clinical research studies to their patients, with the patients remaining under their direct care and closer to home during their treatment.

"Being able to offer not only our own trials on site, but also major NCI trials, is a huge benefit to the members of our Research Network," said Dr. Mark Evers, director of the UK Markey Cancer Center. "The patients who chose to enroll in one of these trials at King's Daughters should be assured that they are receiving the latest, best treatment options for their disease, with the added benefit of staying much closer to their own support system at home."

By disseminating Markey's clinical research studies across the region, the collaborative Research Network will offer better, more progressive treatment options to patients without the burden of traveling away from home and their physicians. 

"Clinical research is the best way to advance cancer treatment protocols and move forward with the most effective new therapies," said Dr. Tim Mullett, medical director of the Markey Cancer Center Research Network. "As an NCI-designated cancer center not just serving all of Kentucky, but regions of Appalachia including West Virginia, we have an obligation to address the most devastating cancers in this area by continually improving cancer prevention, detection, and treatments. The Markey Research Network will play a vital role in improving the grim cancer mortality rates in our region."

To be invited into the Markey Cancer Center Research Network, medical centers must demonstrate a capacity to deliver the highest caliber of clinical expertise and demonstrate qualify work in clinical research and complying with federal regulations. Other medical centers are expected to join the Research Network in the coming months.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Allison Perry, (859) 323-2399 or allison.perry@uky.edu