The Lehigh Valley Cancer Institute’s membership in the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Alliance has been extended to Monroe County at the Dale and Frances Hughes Cancer Center at LVH–Pocono.

“Bringing all that the MSK Cancer Alliance has to offer to the Hughes Cancer Center, which is the region’s first and leading cancer care facility, takes the care offered in this community to yet another level,” said Brian Nester, president and CEO for LVHN. “The alliance brings groundbreaking, lifesaving cancer care closer to where people live.”

Nester said patients with cancer in Monroe County will benefit from Lehigh Valley Cancer Institute’s membership in the MSK Cancer Alliance in several key ways:

• Clinical teams from Lehigh Valley Cancer Institute quickly learn and adopt Sloan Kettering standards of care into everyday practice for their patients.

• Lehigh Valley Cancer Institute patients benefit from the diagnosis and treatment expertise of MSK doctors. Physicians from both organizations meet regularly to discuss challenging cases and identify the best treatments for patients. Lehigh Valley Cancer Institute physicians also visit MSK to learn about the newest techniques and advances in care.

• Lehigh Valley Cancer Institute patients have access to clinical trials, which provide leading-edge cancer treatments under close study. Clinical trials accelerate the data-collection process so treatments can be approved faster and become available to even more patients.

Dr. Suresh Nair, physician-in-chief, Lehigh Valley Cancer Institute, said the hospital is adding more specialty physicians in cancer services following the merger with Lehigh Valley Health Network in January 2017.

Besides Nair seeing patients at LVH–Pocono, two medical oncologists are joining the LVH–Pocono staff:

Dr. Daniel Koh started this week and Dr. Dipen Patel will start July 30.

Surgical Oncology consultative services were launched in April with Dr. Jeffrey Brodsk and Dr. Aaron Blackham, of Lehigh Valley Physician Group Surgical Oncology.

Gynecology consultative services began in March with Dr. M. Bijoy Thomas, chief of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology, and Dr. Martin Martino, medical director for the robotic surgery program.

Both physicians are seeing patients at LVH–Pocono for office visits, chemotherapy and radiation treatment, surgical clearance, follow-ups and select surgical procedures.