For 70 years, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System’s Gibbs Cancer Center has had a mission to use innovative cancer treatment and groundbreaking research to bring the highest quality of care to patients. A nationally recognized cancer treatment and research facility, Gibbs Cancer Center is associated with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Medical University of South Carolina, and the M.D. Anderson Physicians Network. The Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons and the Joint Commission have recognized the Gibbs Cancer Center as offering high quality cancer care.

At the Gibbs Cancer Center, technology and expertise provide some of the most progressive cancer treatment known today. The center is also part of the NCI Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP). NCCCP is a three-year pilot program to test the concept of a national network of community cancer centers to expand cancer research and deliver the latest, most advanced cancer care to a greater number of Americans. The pilot program is designed to encourage collaboration among private-practice medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists, with close links to NCI research and to the network of 63 NCI-designated Cancer Centers, which are principally based at large research universities.

To date, there have been many clinical trials at the center. Each of these experimental studies allows researchers to obtain critical information that will strengthen the ability to treat cancer, and better yet, prevent it.

James Bearden, III, MD, FACP, is the managing physician at the center and the vice president of research at Spartanburg Regional. South Carolina is fortunate to call Bearden its own. Since 1969, when he graduated from the Medical University of South Carolina, Bearden has dedicated his life to fighting cancer. With its disproportionate rates of breast, prostate, and lung cancer, South Carolina has needed his help.

Dr. Bearden has the distinction of being the first board-certified oncologist in the state. A practicing medical oncologist, he was instrumental in helping the Gibbs Cancer Center become one of only ten community hospitals in the country to participate in the National Cancer Institute’s Community Cancer Centers Program. Dr. Bearden is a member of HSSC’s Policy Steering Committee.