Multidisciplinary Clinic For Head and Neck Cancer Patients

The Hillman Cancer Center and Shadyside Hospital represents the region's greatest concentration of head and neck cancer expertise. A new effort takes advantage of these resources available while making treatment for head and neck cancer easier for the patient.

Through the Multidisciplinary Clinic, a patient's visit includes time with all appropriate members of the treatment team - an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist, radiation oncologist, and medical oncologist - during one visit to the center. Patients are evaluated by each specialist to find the best treatment options, as well as identifying any clinical trials that the patient could benefit from. Similarly, a tumor board representing the clinicians and radiologists meets weekly to discuss the cases seen by the clinic and share their expertise in determining a treatment strategy.

This multidisciplinary clinic ensures that patients do not get just the expertise of one or two specialists, but that of the department as a whole. New patients can be referred to the Clinic by their doctors; physicians should contact the clinic facilitator, Mary Fore, RN, at (412) 692-4724.

Participating specialists include:
Athanassios Argiris, MD, medical oncology
Jonas T. Johnson, MD, ENT
Jennifer R. Grandis, MD, ENT
Robert L. Ferris, MD, ENT
Stephen Y. Lai, MD, ENT
Ryan P. Smith, MD, radiation oncology
Dwight E. Heron, MD, radiation oncology