Thomas Shea named associate director of clinical outreach for UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. Thomas Shea has been named associate director of clinical outreach for the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Shea, professor of medicine and director of UNC Health Care's Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation program, will lead Lineberger's efforts to develop collaborative efforts in education, research, and clinical care through interaction with North Carolina's Area Health Education Centers, health systems, and oncology practices.
Feb. 26, 2008
Thomas Shea named associate director of clinical outreach for UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. Thomas Shea has been named associate director of clinical outreach for the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Shea, professor of medicine and director of UNC Health Care’s Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation program, will lead Lineberger’s efforts to develop collaborative efforts in education, research, and clinical care through interaction with North Carolina’s Area Health Education Centers, health systems, and oncology practices.
“Tom Shea is one of the best known cancer doctors in North Carolina,” said Dr. Shelton Earp, UNC Lineberger director. “His role in developing UNC’s Bone Marrow Transplant program has put him in touch with everyone across the state over the last fifteen years. His academic and clinical accomplishments make him the ideal person to develop partnerships to advance clinical trials accrual, oncology care quality, and new programs to benefit patients across North Carolina.”
In his new position, Shea will increase interactive videoconferences for continuing medical education and patient care conferences as well as a mechanism for enrollment of patients onto selected early phase clinical trials through a web-based data management tool that will be available at participating sites. He will also emphasize provision of new services such as survivorship programs and clinics to patients treated both in Chapel Hill and throughout the region.
“Given the obvious benefits of receiving treatment close to home, this is an opportunity to improve patient and physician satisfaction by developing collaborations with community partners to facilitate delivery of novel therapies and improve the quality of cancer care across the state,” Shea said.
Shea came to UNC in 1992 from the University of California at San Diego, where he served as associate professor of medicine and founding director of the bone marrow transplantation program. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his medical degree from the UNC School of Medicine.
Media contact: Dianne Shaw, (919) 966-7834 or dgs@med.unc.edu
ABOUT UNC HEALTH CARE
The UNC Health Care System is a not-for-profit integrated health care system owned by the state of North Carolina and based in Chapel Hill. It exists to further the teaching mission of the University of North Carolina and to provide state-of-the-art patient care. UNC Health Care is comprised of UNC Hospitals, which is ranked among the top 50 in the nation in six specialties by U.S. News & World Report and ranked one of the country’s 41 best on the Leapfrog 2007 Top Hospitals list; the UNC School of Medicine, a nationally eminent research institution; community practices; home health and hospice services in seven central North Carolina counties; and Rex Healthcare and its provider network in Wake County. UNC Health Care also manages Chatham Hospital in Siler City.
