Cancer Care in Central Kentucky
November 10, 2025
Saint Joseph Health – Cancer Care Center provides people-centered care in a newly renovated space LEXINGTON The Saint Joseph Health – Cancer Care Center in
I GREW UP in the 1960s when the life expectancy for American men was 66 and 73 for women. Heart disease and cancer were the main causes of death. Now those averages are 76 for men and 81 for women.
As a child, I recall that when hearing that someone “had cancer,” it was understood that they would be dying soon. The type or site of the cancer was rarely discussed. Cancer, the “Big C” was enough said.
The “War on Cancer” was announced by President Richard Nixon in 1971 by virtue of the National Cancer Act, which created the National Cancer Program and gave the National Cancer Institute new and expanded powers and funding to conduct research and clinical trials and establish cancer centers, such as we have at the UK Healthcare Markey Cancer Center, directed by Dr. Mark Evers, who is featured in this issue.
In speaking with the Kentucky oncologists for this issue, three things stood out to me. One, we now speak of organ-specific cancer, i.e., breast cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, etc. Two, we talk in stages: 1, 2, 3, or 4 of the disease. And third, the biggest change is that we talk of treatment options, disease management, a chronic illness, and in the best cases, survival and recovery.
In this issue of MD-Update, we are very proud to bring you the stories of the physicians who are treating cancer patients in Kentuckiana. I hope you enjoy reading them.
Golf Anyone? I don’t play golf. It wasn’t something we did very much of on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the 1960s. We played baseball or spent summers in the salty waters of the Chesapeake Bay, fishing, crabbing, sailing, boating, swimming. The past few months, I’ve been in attendance at two different golf scrambles, one sponsored by the Greater Louisville Medical Society and another one, sponsored by Lexington Clinic. The players seemed to be having a good time and a lot of money was raised for different charities. I took a lot of pictures of the golfers. The GLMS pictures are on page 46, and the Lexington Clinic scramble will be in the December issue. l tried to get the names correct for the captions. If there are mistakes, I’m sorry about that.
The 2026 MD-Update editorial calendar is on the preceding page. When you see your specialty and you have a story to tell, contact me. If your specialty isn’t included, that’s another reason to reach out to me. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
Until December, all the best,
Gil Dunn
Editor/Publisher MD-Update
Saint Joseph Health – Cancer Care Center provides people-centered care in a newly renovated space LEXINGTON The Saint Joseph Health – Cancer Care Center in
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