Miami Cancer Institute: State-of-the-Art Technology and Innovative Patient Care

In late 2016, Baptist Health South Florida will open the new Miami Cancer Institute, a destination cancer center that will offer groundbreaking clinical trials, the latest technology, and compassionate patient care. When the 395,000-square-foot facility opens, it will bring together all of Baptist Health’s cancer services and research under one roof. Baptist Health South Florida, a healthcare organization of more than 16,000 employees and 2,300 physicians, provides state-of-the-art cancer care to a community that reaches beyond South Florida to Latin America and the Caribbean, building on its reputation for innovation and patient experience. 

Developing a Destination Cancer Center

From the outset, Baptist Health senior leadership could foresee a need for increased cancer care in South Florida. “CEO Brian Keeley grew Baptist Health from one hospital into a successful 7-hospital system,” said Leonard Kalman, MD, Deputy Medical Director and Chief Medical Officer of Miami Cancer Institute. “Baptist Health is an outstanding healthcare organization with many components, including hospitals, sophisticated outpatient services, a medical group, enhanced quality control, and a sophisticated cardiac and vascular unit.” But despite the variety of current services, Baptist Health leadership determined that Miami needed a true destination cancer center that in terms of standards of care and clinical trials is on par with a major academic cancer center. “That is what we’ve undertaken at Miami Cancer Institute,” he said.

Kalman and other Miami Cancer Institute leadership are working to ensure that a full range of world-class care will be offered when the institute opens its doors to its first patient. “We’ve included all the components a major cancer center must have – sophisticated medical oncology treatments, plans for bone marrow transplantation, surgical centers, radiation oncology that includes the region’s first proton therapy center, interventional oncology, cancer patient support services, sophisticated palliative care – truly the full spectrum of services.” 

Ripal Gandhi, MD, an interventional radiologist with Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute at Baptist Health South Florida and member of select planning committees involved in the launch of the new Miami Cancer Institute facility, said the goal is to have a multidisciplinary model where any treatment can be provided to oncologic patients. 

“Miami Cancer Institute will offer everything patients need, no matter the status of their disease.” Kalman added that the institute will provide the typical panel of treatments, including chemotherapy of all types, surgery, radiation, palliative care, supportive care to help patients deal with symptoms and better understand their illness, and ancillary patient support services including patient and family psychological support, exercise guidance, nutrition services with a demonstration kitchen that will teach patients how to eat well, music therapy, and mind/body therapies. “Every service you can imagine a cancer center could provide, we will provide.” 

A Pillar of Care

A major components of care will be radiation and interventional oncology. “From the very beginning, Baptist Health has had very sophisticated interventional radiologists,” Kalman said. “At Miami Cancer Institute, those practitioners will function as a pillar of care. In our multidisciplinary care model, every patient will see physicians from various disciplines, from medical oncologists to radiation oncologists, surgical oncologists if the patient is a candidate for surgery, and interventional oncologists, who should be an integral part of any multidisciplinary team.” 

Gandhi noted that in the last several years, interventional oncology has become a major component of care, providing curative and palliative treatment of cancer and cancer-related problems. “As the scope of interventional and oncologic treatments is very wide, we are going to have a critical role in the team in our approach to patient care, including prevention, early detection, state-of-the-art treatment options, patient support, clinical research, and long-term patient follow-up,” he said. In the range of services provided is tumor ablation (radiofrequency ablation, microwave ablation, cryoablation), bland embolization, chemoembolization, uterine and intravenous radioembolization, pain management including epidural injection, palliative procedures such as shunt and catheter placement, pain management, biopsy, and intervention. “We will truly be treating every type of cancer in one way or another, utilizing our access to all the primary treatment modalities,” he said. “At Miami Cancer Institute, we will have the most advanced guide wires and catheters available, and we will be one of only 10 or fewer institutions in the world with access to the Magellan Robotic System, allowing us to innovate on a full range of interventional oncologic services and treatments.”

Groundbreaking Collaboration 

In February, Miami Cancer Institute announced plans to join the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Alliance, a dynamic partnership that will enable cancer patients to access potential breakthrough therapies in South Florida. “When planning for the Miami Cancer Institute, we knew that to accelerate its progress, it would be great if we could align with a major academic center – a substantial alliance based on shared standards of care and most importantly, robust participation in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s clinical trials,” said Kalman.

Gandhi said his team has several clinical trials currently in focus. “As one of the first centers in the world to perform robotic-guided embolization, we are interested in further pursuing research involving intravascular robotic therapy,” he said. Kalman added, “clinical trials will be a major emphasis at the Miami Cancer Institute, as they present new and innovative compounds to patients in the treatment of cancers. We expect to enroll 30% of all eligible patients in trials, which is more than nearly any other cancer center in the world,” he said. “We have and will continue to recruit experts in developmental therapeutics, including phase 1 compounds, that will provide patients with access to innovative compounds early in their development. In addition, our center for genomic medicine will highlight the use of so-called ‘personalized medicine’ to help inform and direct clinical trials.”

Engaging an Active Community

As a major cancer center of its kind in the South Florida region, Kalman said that community outreach is part of its mission. “We are dividing the institute by disease program – lung cancer, colon cancer, and breast cancer, for example. As part of a patient’s evaluation and treatment, he or she will see a multidisciplinary team made of experts on the latest treatment in each field.” Those experts will also go out into the community and provide an extensive education on their particular disease, both in treatment and prevention. 

“Miami Cancer Institute will be distinguished by three things: caring, compassion, and hope; a great patient experience; and innovation,” said Kalman. “When patients arrive at Miami Cancer Institute, they will have already received information about us, be greeted at their vehicle and taken to the lobby, assigned a patient navigator, and never be without someone to talk to and answer any questions they have. That’s the unique attention Baptist Health is known for.

“We will be a message of hope for patients, all within a state-of-the-art environment with evidence-based cancer care,” Gandhi added. “Miami Cancer Institute will provide care to cancer patients who might not otherwise have access to innovative treatments, while optimizing patient safety and efficacy. Our goal is to provide cancer patients with the most advanced and compassionate care possible, while prolonging their lives and maintaining the importance of quality of life.”

Miami Cancer Institute anticipates opening its doors in late 2016 and seeing its first patient January 2, 2017. 

Suggested citation: Wolfgang K. Miami Cancer Institute: state-of-the-art technology and innovative patient care. Intervent Oncol 360. 2016;4(3):E46-E49.