Owensboro Health Joins Markey Affiliate Network
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 11, 2018) – Owensboro Health announced yesterday that it has joined the Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network, further expanding its relationship with the University of Kentucky.
Markey Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in Kentucky. By joining the UK Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network, Owensboro Health will now be able to further enhance care available to patients in Western Kentucky and Southern Indiana, while allowing patients to stay closer to home and their support systems for most treatments.
“Owensboro Health exists to heal the sick and to improve the health of the communities we serve," said Owensboro Health President and CEO Greg Strahan. "When it comes to offering national-quality, outstanding cancer care, we are proud to team up with the UK Markey Cancer Center, which is recognized as one of the foremost cancer care and research centers in the nation.”
Owensboro Health’s Mitchell Memorial Cancer Center (MMCC) serves the health system’s coverage area, a population of nearly 400,000 people across 14 counties in Western Kentucky and Southern Indiana. More than 1,000 patients are treated at the center annually. Last year, Owensboro Health also joined Markey's Research Network, which allows MMCC to run many of Markey's clinical trials on-site.
"As a native of Owensboro, it is a great honor to welcome Owensboro Health as our newest UK Markey Cancer Center Affiliate,” said Dr. Mark Newman, UK executive vice president for health affairs. “These relationships are very important to both of our institutions and most significantly to the care of patients throughout the region and the Commonwealth. We look forward to continuing to work with the outstanding team at Owensboro to provide the highest level of cancer treatment and prevention measures.”
The UK Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network was created to provide high-quality cancer care closer to home for patients across the region, and to minimize the effects of cancer through prevention and education programs, exceptional clinical care, and access to research. The affiliate network is especially important for Kentucky, where cancer rates are the highest in the nation.
"Kentucky is home to some of the worst cancer rates in the country," said Dr. Tim Mullett, medical director of the UK Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network. "Collaborating with our affiliate hospitals across the state will enable us to make a positive impact on the dire cancer rates here in the Commonwealth."
The UK Markey Cancer Center is one of only 69 medical centers in the country to earn an NCI cancer center designation. Because of the designation, Markey patients have access to new drugs, treatment options and clinical trials offered only at NCI centers.
Moving forward, the UK Markey Cancer Center is working toward the next tier of designation – an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. Currently, 45 of the 69 NCI-designated cancer centers in the country hold a comprehensive cancer center status. The UK Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network will play a large role in bringing that next level of cancer funding to Kentucky.
The UK Markey Cancer Center Affiliate Network was created in 2006 and is comprised of the following 20 hospitals across the Commonwealth of Kentucky:
- Clark Regional Medical Center, Winchester
- Frankfort Regional Medical Center
- Georgetown Community Hospital
- Hardin Memorial Hospital, Elizabethtown
- Harlan ARH Hospital
- Harrison Memorial Hospital, Cynthiana
- Hazard ARH Regional Medical Center
- Highlands Regional Medical Center, Prestonsburg
- King's Daughters Medical Center, Ashland
- Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital, Somerset
- Methodist Hospital, Henderson
- Norton Cancer Institute, Louisville (Norton Healthcare-UK HealthCare partnership)
- Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital, Ashland
- Owensboro Health Regional Hospital
- Rockcastle Regional Hospital, Mt. Vernon
- St. Claire Regional Medical Center, Morehead
- St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Edgewood
- The Medical Center at Bowling Green
- TJ Samson Community Hospital, Glasgow
- Tug Valley ARH Regional Medical Center, South Williamson