The Best Cancer Center in the World Is Now in San Diego
Five days a week for seven long weeks, Elaine Deboe made the drive from Jamul to La Jolla for chemotherapy.
“It doesn’t get much better than looking out the window at the beach in La Jolla,” she says, laughing.
But Deboe is happy about much more than just the view. Thanks to a new partnership between Scripps and renowned cancer institute MD Anderson, the 57-year-old patient received some of the most targeted and advanced medical care available. MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston has been at the forefront of cancer care and research for more than 76 years, and is the top-ranked cancer center in America by U.S. News & World Report.
“I think this is one of the most exciting things to happen to San Diego in a long time,” says Dr. Thomas Buchholz, who worked at MD Anderson in Houston for two decades before taking the reins as medical director of Scripps MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Buchholz is an expert in the field of inflammatory breast cancer, the rare and aggressive form Deboe was diagnosed with in October 2018. He cofounded the world’s first IBC clinic in Houston in 2006, and after relocating to San Diego last year, launched a similar clinic here.
For Deboe, it was literally a lifesaver. IBC is more devastating than other common types of breast cancer in part because its symptoms are mostly silent and often go undetected by a mammogram or ultrasound. These symptoms may include breast swelling and tenderness, with skin that is reddened and thickened, sometimes dimpled in texture like an orange peel; itching, warmth, pain, and flattened or inverted nipples.
Deboe thought she had a rash, but her dermatologist quickly recognized it was something much more serious and referred her to the IBC clinic at Scripps MD Anderson.
The clinic is just one example of the advances in cancer treatment arising from the partnership. Local physicians are also getting to draw from the deep well of knowledge established by the center in Houston, which has more ongoing clinical trials than any other organization in the country, according to Buchholz.
This summer, Scripps MD Anderson began enrolling patients in a first-of-its-kind clinical trial using a new immunotherapy drug to fight liver cancer. And in November 2018, Scripps MD Anderson was the first in San Diego County to treat a patient with a targeted therapy called Lutathera, a breakthrough for patients with neuroendocrine tumors of the digestive tract.
Innovative treatments aside, Scripps MD Anderson offers clinics where its patients can see all these doctors in one setting.
“When you receive cancer treatment, it’s important you receive it from a team of medical specialists,” Buchholz explains. “You need a great surgeon, but you also need a great pathologist and a great radiation oncologist. And they have to be integrated and coordinated in their thought processes.”
“They took care of everything. I didn’t have to do anything,” Deboe recalls. “It was beautiful.”
As it looks to the future, the center plans to expand its network of facilities that stretches from Hillcrest to Encinitas, including its current hub on the Torrey Pines Mesa and the forthcoming $59 million Prebys Cancer Center at Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego (set to open in 2022).
Deboe’s future is bright as well. Her treatment is mostly complete, though she continues to take a low-dose chemotherapy pill. “I’ve got things to do in my life, and I’m not going anywhere. I feel like this is done.”
The Best Cancer Center in the World Is Now in San Diego
Illustration by Francesco Ciccolella
