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ONCOLOGY UPDATE in South Florida ...ONCOLOGY UPDATE in South Florida

Moffitt at Memorial Hospital West A FIRST IN CANCER CARE:

Offering Leading-Edge Care IBM Watson Helps Oncologists

in South Florida at Jupiter Medical Center

Watson, the cognitive computing system
that beat the world’s best Jeopardy players
in 2011, is now being used to help make
decisions about cancer treatments in our
community. Jupiter Medical Center was the
first U.S. community medical center to
adopt Watson for Oncology, and its cancer
experts are using the technology to help
deliver personalized, evidence-based treat-
ment.
“It’s like getting a second opinion from
the world’s best brain,” explains Abraham Schwarzberg, M.D., chief of of Oncology at
Jupiter Medical Center. “Watson is a cognitive computing system that is programmed to
Senior leaders from Moffitt Cancer Center and Memorial Healthcare System cut the cele- figure out the optimal regimen for an individual’s cancer treatment.”
bratory ribbon on their cancer-focused partnership at a recent event in Pembroke Pines. There are an estimated 1.7 million new American cancer cases annually, with 125,000
The two have established Moffitt Malignant Hematology & Cellular Therapy at Memorial in Florida alone. As health care providers seek to enable data-driven, evidence-based can-
Hospital West, which will improve access to leading-edge care and research for South cer care, an explosion of medical information has created both challenges and opportu-
Floridians diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma, or multiple myeloma. nities. The vast amount of medical information – 50,000 annual oncology papers and an
(Photo credit: Gerlinde Photography) expected doubling of information every 73 days – has outpaced physician capacity to
internalize it.
Melvin Feliciano was a leukemia Dr. Schwarzberg acknowledges that a big issue for oncologists is keeping up with can-
patient facing an uncertain future. cer literature daily. Now, Jupiter Medical Center’s cancer experts have a tool that puts the
Desperately in need of a bone marrow most up-to-date information and treatment recommendations at their fingertips.
transplant, the Miami resident and his Watson can:
family were unable to travel out of the • Analyze an individual patient’s medical information to help better understand unique
region for the time required for the pro- attributes
cedure and recovery, but no medical • Read the expanding body of curated literature from medical journals and textbooks
facility close to home offered the neces- • Provide personalized, evidence-based treatments options which are reviewed and
sary treatment. evaluated by Jupiter Medical Center’s cancer experts
Feliciano didn’t know it at the time, “With Watson’s ability to harness all of the world’s knowledge on cancer care – in any
but a clinical partnership between the language – I can sit with a patient and say, this is what the literature recommends today
Tampa-based Moffitt Cancer Center and for your particular situation,” Dr. Schwarzberg said. “It gives our team of doctors great
Memorial Healthcare System in South confidence that we have identified the most up-to-date treatment regimen available.”
Florida was about to save his life. Watson ranks treatment options, linking to peer-reviewed studies and clinical guide-
The alliance established Moffitt lines. Its machine-learning capability means it continuously collects information, gaining
Malignant Hematology & Cellular value and knowledge over time.
Therapy, a comprehensive blood and “We are committed to pioneering new approaches,” said Steven Seeley, interim presi-
marrow transplant and cellular therapy dent and chief executive officer of Jupiter Medical Center. “Watson for Oncology is part
program with Moffitt’s physicians prac- of our investment in creating a world-class cancer program and we are proud to be the
ticing at Memorial Hospital West in Memorial Healthcare System CEO Aurelio first U.S. community hospital to arm our clinical team with this cutting-edge technolo-
Pembroke Pines. The alliance also brings Fernandez (left) with H. Lee Moffitt, gy.”
the renowned cancer center’s access to Although a powerful tool, Watson is not meant to replace physicians. “Watson does
research, clinical trials, and model of care former speaker of the Florida House of not tell the physician what to do, it’s a knowledgeable second opinion,” explains Nancy
to local leukemia, lymphoma, and multi- Representatives and the namesake of Taft, M.D., FACS, medical director of the breast program at Jupiter Medical Center.
ple myeloma patients. It is the first time Moffitt Cancer Center. “Having additional input helps me make the most informed decisions and gives the
Moffitt has expanded beyond the Tampa (Photo credit: Gerlinde Photography) patient added comfort that they’re being offered the optimal treatment.”
Bay area. Dr. Schwarzberg adds, “You still need that bond and trust between a cancer patient and
The partnership with Memorial, one of the nation’s largest public healthcare sys- their doctor or treatment team. At the end of the day, the patient and their doctor make
tems, is already paying dividends just months after it was finalized, with Feliciano the ultimate decision about how to fight cancer.”
being the unit’s first haploidentical allogenic bone marrow transplant recipient. The
procedure enabled the leukemia patient to receive healthy stem cells from his brother, To learn more, call Jupiter Medical Center at (561) 263-4269.
a genetically similar, but not identical, donor.
“We’re changing the way blood cancers are being treated in South Florida by bring-
ing all of our considerable resources to the region,” said Hugo Fernandez, M.D., chair
and medical director of Moffitt Malignant Hematology & Cellular Therapy at
Memorial Healthcare System. “There are many advantages to patients being treated
close to home, including access to family and friends, less travel, and expense.”
In addition to Dr. Fernandez, Moffitt-employed hematologist/oncologists at
Memorial Hospital West include Marco A. Ruiz, M.D., Yehuda E. Deutsch, M.D., and
Jose Sandoval-Sus, M.D. Advanced registered nurse practitioners from Moffitt also
staff the unit, which will provide services of blood and marrow transplant and malig-
nant hematology as well as those related to molecular diagnostics, personalized med-
icine, and hematopathology. Rounding out the Moffitt team are Memorial Hospital
West care team members, including pharmacists, nurses, social workers, and case
managers.
A shared culture that focuses on patient and family-centered care has also been a
key to the early success of the venture, a point that was emphasized at a recent rib-
bon-cutting event that attracted dignitaries from Florida’s House of Representatives
and leaders from both Moffitt and Memorial. Speakers at the celebration included for-
mer Speaker of the House H. Lee Moffitt, Representative Jose R. Oliva, Moffitt CEO
and President Alan F. List, and Aurelio M. Fernandez III, FACHE, president and CEO
of Memorial Healthcare System.

For more information, call 1-888-MOFFITT (1-888-663-3488) or visit MOFFITT.org.

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