As the only National Cancer Institute–designated cancer center in the North Texas region, UT Southwestern’s Simmons Cancer Center is committed to sharing its expertise and improving the quality of lung cancer care for this area of the country.
That community includes nearly 6.8 million people in the Dallas-Fort Worth region—the nation’s fourth-largest metropolitan area—as well as residents of dozens of nearby counties. The Cancer Center’s reach extends into Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, none of which have cancer centers that are NCI-designated, a hallmark of institutions that meet stringent criteria for state-of-the-art research and care.
A key part of Simmons Cancer Center’s mission is implemented one cancer case at a time. Oncology professionals at the Center regularly confer with and support referring physicians to ensure communication, evidence-based care, and consensus with a patient’s full treatment team, including the primary care doctors. In addition, practitioners in the community are invited to submit complex lung cancer cases, free of charge, to the Cancer Center’s Thoracic Oncology Tumor Board, a weekly conference of about 40 experts from the full range of disciplines devoted to lung cancer care. After an evidence-based review, those experts create a document summarizing their discussion and recommendations, which is given to the patient’s referring physician.
The Cancer Center also maintains a speakers’ bureau, which arranges for cancer professionals to share their expertise with community groups. And Cancer Center physicians frequently give presentations to physicians’ organizations about new developments in their specialties.
For Simmons Cancer Center patients, care and support are available at satellite sites, including the UT Southwestern Clinical Center at Richardson/Plano, at 3030 Waterview Parkway in Richardson. There, patients can receive care from a medical oncologist, have laboratory tests performed, and receive chemotherapy.
In addition, UT Southwestern’s Moncrief Cancer Institute, at 400 W. Magnolia Ave. in Fort Worth, offers a comprehensive Community Survivorship Program that provides multidisciplinary support for patients and survivors to improve their quality of life during and after treatment. Among Moncrief’s ongoing services is a comprehensive smoking/tobacco cessation program, open to all cancer survivors at the Institute and in the community. The Institute also collaborates with population scientists at UT Southwestern to study implementation of guidelines from the National Lung Screening Trial, particularly in rural counties. Moncrief also houses a new Simmons Cancer Center clinic, expanding services to include chemotherapy and cancer imaging.
Finally, patients, their families, and others affected by cancer can receive assistance from Simmons Cancer Center’s Cancer Answer Line, a free and confidential phone service. The Answer Line offers guidance and referrals to UT Southwestern care and fields questions about diagnoses, testing, treatment, and more.
A new home for the future of medicine
The new William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital at UT Southwestern, in the Medical District of Dallas, brings together the knowledge, expertise, research, and innovation of a world-class medical institution into one remarkable facility—with the patient at the center of it all.
Redefining the future of care, today.
Inspired by your needs, focused on your care
It’s a hospital unlike any other in North America. Conceived and designed with the needs of patients and their families in mind. Connecting them like never before. Keeping them safe and comfortable. Ensuring that compassionate care is never more than a few steps away.
Clements University Hospital’s oncology unit has 64 beds and is staffed by oncology-certified nurses and transitional coordinators. The patient/nurse ratio is 5:1 or better. Here’s more of what you’ll find in the new hospital:
- 12 floors
- 1.3 million square feet
- 460 single-patient rooms
- 40 emergency treatment rooms
- 24 surgical suites
- 12 interventional suites
- 72 adult ICU rooms
- 30 neonatal ICU rooms
- 16 labor and delivery rooms
- 6 endoscopy suites
- 4 CT scan, 2 MRI, and 6 X-ray suites
- 2 nuclear medicine rooms
