The Cancer Center at Glens Falls Hospital provides local people with comprehensive cancer care, close to home. It also inspires quality doctors to make this region their home.
Glens Falls Hospital's 1999 Physician of the Year, Alex H. Frank, M.D., is a prime
example.
Dr. Frank left a post as an instructor in therapeutic radiology at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT, to build the radiation oncology program at the Cancer Center and serve as the program director.
"I moved here specifically to develop and work with this program," he says. "I had the opportunity to start something from scratch, which is very exciting. The Hospital put many resources at my disposal, and the medical and hospital staff were very open and supportive."
Seven years have passed since the Center's opening, but Dr. Frank says he's still excited about its programs, and more inspired than ever by its impact on people's lives.
"The one thing I hear over and over again from patients is a tremendous sense
of relief that they can get this quality of care so close to home," he says.
The Center's continuing advances in treatment technologies, such as radioactive seed implantation therapy for prostate cancer patients, and its participation in national clinical research trials add to the optimism felt by its medical staff and patients.
"If you remember, with heart disease, it was often fatal or permanently disabling,"
Dr. Frank says. "Over time that has become less and less true. People are living much longer, into their 80s and 90s, in spite of a heart attack. That is what is happening with cancer.
"Cancer is an incredibly complex and multifaceted disease. A lot can be cured, reversed or slowed. The stigma that once was attached to the disease is diminished. People do live longer and there is constant progress."
Glens Falls Hospital's 1999 Physician of the Year, Alex H. Frank, M.D., is a prime
example.
Dr. Frank left a post as an instructor in therapeutic radiology at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT, to build the radiation oncology program at the Cancer Center and serve as the program director.
"I moved here specifically to develop and work with this program," he says. "I had the opportunity to start something from scratch, which is very exciting. The Hospital put many resources at my disposal, and the medical and hospital staff were very open and supportive."
Seven years have passed since the Center's opening, but Dr. Frank says he's still excited about its programs, and more inspired than ever by its impact on people's lives.
"The one thing I hear over and over again from patients is a tremendous sense
of relief that they can get this quality of care so close to home," he says.
The Center's continuing advances in treatment technologies, such as radioactive seed implantation therapy for prostate cancer patients, and its participation in national clinical research trials add to the optimism felt by its medical staff and patients.
"If you remember, with heart disease, it was often fatal or permanently disabling,"
Dr. Frank says. "Over time that has become less and less true. People are living much longer, into their 80s and 90s, in spite of a heart attack. That is what is happening with cancer.
"Cancer is an incredibly complex and multifaceted disease. A lot can be cured, reversed or slowed. The stigma that once was attached to the disease is diminished. People do live longer and there is constant progress."
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