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Chronological Timeline1977 Dr. Stephen A. Cullinan completed his oncology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic and returned home to central Illinois to begin his medical practice, the Oncology Hematology Associates of Central Illinois located in Methodist Medical Center. Dr. Cullinan quickly instituted an outreach clinic concept initially seeing patients in Pekin, followed by Bloomington and Pontiac the next year. 1978 Dr. Cullinan was among the pioneers who established a unique research relationship with Mayo Clinic called the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG). The Illinois Oncology Research Association (IORA) was established here and became one of the original NCCTG member institutions that viewed the community as the most appropriate venue to conduct clinical trials to test novel approaches to cancer prevention and treatment and to offer cutting-edge care to a broader spectrum of patients. 1979 James B. Gerstner, another central Illinoisan and Mayo Clinic Fellow in hematology joined the practice. Until the late '70s nearly all cancer research was being done by academic institutions at the major medical center universities. The first Peoria patient was entered into a cancer clinical trial here. 1980 Dr. Rick Mundis joined the practice after receiving his Medical Oncology training at Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. The group began clinics in Galesburg and Macomb. 1981 Clinics were established in Spring Valley, Princeton, Ottawa, and Peru. 1982 Dr. Michael Veeder joined the practice with a medical degree from Yale University Medical School followed by a medical oncology fellowship at Dana Farber Cancer Center, Harvard University. The group began clinics in Hopedale, Carthage and Canton. 1983 Oncology Hematology Associates joined forces with the Methodist Medical Center to become one of the first Community Clinical Oncology Programs (CCOP) in the nation. CCOP provided a way for the group to partner with academic investigators to accelerate the number of NCI clinical cancer prevention, control and treatment trials available in our local community clinics. 1986 Dr. Kugler came to the Oncology Hematology Associates practice from a physicians' group in Montana following a medical oncology fellowship from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics which included training in bone marrow transplant. 1988 The practice expanded clinic affiliations to Eureka. 1989 Dr. Allen Vukov further strengthened the Mayo tradition when he joined the practice after attending medical school at the University Of Illinois College Of Medicine at Peoria and receiving his hematology training at the Mayo Clinic. 1990 The practice moved to a new location in the Methodist Atrium Building. 1992 Dr. James Knost joined Oncology Hematology Associates from a practice in Tennessee with prior experience at the National Cancer Institute following a medical oncology fellowship at Vanderbilt University. The practice opened a clinic in Kewanee. 1994 Dr. Paul Fishkin and Dr. Francois Geoffroy joined the practice. Dr. Fishkin joined us after serving as a U.S. Army physician following his oncology and hematology fellowships at Letterman Army Medical Center in San Francisco. Dr. Geoffroy completed his medical oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute. Oncology Hematology Associates established a research affiliation with the University of Chicago for Phase II clinical cancer treatment trials. 1999 Dr. Srinivas Jujjavarapu joined the practice after completing his fellowship training in oncology and hematology at Michigan State University and in bone marrow transplant at Loyola University Medical School. 2001 Dr. Sachdev Thomas joined the practice after completing his fellowship in oncology and hematology from Loyola University Medical Center. 2002 Dr. Nguyet Le-Lindqwister joined Oncology Hematology Associates from a practice in Las Vegas after completing fellowships in medical oncology and hematology at UCLA. The first nurse practitioners joined the practice. 2004 The practice moved from the Methodist Atrium Building to its current location on Route 91 in northwest Peoria. The vision of a comprehensive cancer center in central Illinois became a reality. The Peoria Cancer Center housed not only the physicians and staff of Oncology Hematology Associates, but also an OSF outreach radiation facility, and an office for the Cancer Center for Healthy Living. Full lab services and a radiology facility were established within the Peoria Cancer Center. 2006 Dr. Diane J. Prager joined Oncology Hematology Associates following more than 10 years in practice at UCLA. Although originally from South Africa, Dr. Prager also received her oncology training at UCLA. 2007 Dr. Patrick L. Gomez and Dr. Pankaj Kumar joined the group to establish a full time practice in the Bloomington clinics. Dr. Gomez is board certified in medical oncology; Dr. Kumar is board certified in both medical oncology and hematology. Dr. Stephen Cullinan, whose vision of community outreach clinics brought cancer care and treatment close to home in communities throughout central Illinois, retired at the end of November, 2007. Dr. James Gerstner, his long-time partner in providing the latest in cancer therapies and clinical trial availability to local communities, retired in December of 2007. 2008 Dr. Gregory J. Gerstner, the son of Dr. James Gerstner, joined Illinois CancerCare with board certification in internal medicine, medical oncology, and hematology. Shawn M. Seibert, MD, board certified in internal medicine, joined the practice to serve as the hospitalist for the group seeing hospitalized Illinois CancerCare patients on weekends. 2008 Illinois CancerCare, P.C. became the new name of the former Oncology Hematology Associates and another expansion occurred as the practice started seeing patients in Monmouth at OSF Holy Family Medical Center and the Fox River Cancer Center. 2009 The Illinois CancerCare outreach clinic site in Peru grew to several different locations as the need for additional services in the region continued. 2010 Three physicians from The University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria began seeing patients at Illinois CancerCare at the Peoria Cancer Center. Dr. Rebecca Byler Dann, Dr. Kenneth A. Hodel, and Dr. Salvatore J. LoCoco divide their time between Illinois CancerCare, where they see patients with gynecologist malignancies, and the Peoria hospitals, where they perform surgeries on their gynecologic cancer patients. 2011 Illinois CancerCare physicians began providing medical oncology/hematology services at Valley Regional Cancer Center to serve communities along the I-80 corridor. This comprehensive center offers laboratory services and medical imaging as well. 2012 Illinois CancerCare was recognized by the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) Certification Program. The QOPI® Certification Program (QCP) provides a three-year certification for outpatient hematology-oncology practices that meet the highest national standards for quality cancer care. Illinois CancerCare's Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) is recognized as one of the nation's top enrollers in cancer clinical trials in the newly formed Alliance of Clinical Trials in Oncology ranking 9th in treatment and cancer control trials that seek to prevent cancer or control its incidence, ahead of many other nationally recognized cancer research programs such as Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, Cleveland Clinic, University of Iowa and MD Anderson Cancer Center. |
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