NASHVILLE, TENN., April 11, 2017 – Sarah Cannon, announced today that Dax Kurbegov, MD, has been named Vice President and Physician-in-Chief of Clinical Programs. In his role, Dr. Kurbegov will oversee the expansion of Sarah Cannon’s clinical programs and foster collaboration across Sarah Cannon’s cancer network, which sees more than 120,000 newly diagnosed cancer cases per year.
“With Dr. Kurbegov’s expertise in developing comprehensive cancer services, we can accelerate the building of tumor site centers of excellence for our multidisciplinary programs,” said Howard A. “Skip” Burris III, MD, President of Clinical Operations and Chief Medical Officer at Sarah Cannon. “His contributions will enhance our network of leading physicians and drive improved outcomes for our patients.”
Dr. Kurbegov will be responsible for unifying care standards across Sarah Cannon’s network, which encompasses 75 American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer accredited hospitals as well as dozens of accredited programs from the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC), American College of Radiology (ACR) and Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT). He will work with divisional operations teams and tumor-specific workgroups across Sarah Cannon for strategic development, implementation and evaluation of programs and services.
Prior to joining Sarah Cannon, he served as Physician Vice President of the national oncology service line for Catholic Health Initiatives’ (CHI) 50 cancer centers across the U.S. Previously based in Colorado Springs, Colo., Dr. Kurbegov led program development and standardization of clinical processes across tumor sites for national oncology programs, with a special focus on strategic initiatives to improve patient outcomes. While with CHI, he also held the position of Vice President of Clinical Research and successfully led CHI’s application to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP).
“Sarah Cannon is a global leader in cancer research and care, providing state-of-the-art cancer care for patients in their communities,” said Dr. Kurbegov. “I look forward to working with the team of expert physicians and leaders to standardize the implementation of the latest treatments into care delivery to improve outcomes for patients across the U.S.”
Dr. Kurbegov received his bachelor of science degree from Stanford University and his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and his medical oncology fellowship at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He currently serves as chairperson-elect for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO®) Research Community Forum and physician advisor to the ASCO® CancerLinQ. He has been recognized as a “Top Doc” by U.S. News & World Report, amongst many other recognitions.
Dr. Kurbegov will formally begin his position at the company’s Nashville headquarters in April.
About Sarah Cannon
Sarah Cannon, the Cancer Institute of HCA, offers integrated cancer services with convenient access to cutting-edge therapies for those facing cancer in communities across the United States and United Kingdom. Sarah Cannon’s cancer programs include individualized patient navigation provided by oncology-trained nurses, more than 1,000 stem cell transplants performed annually throughout the Sarah Cannon Blood Cancer Network, hundreds of clinical trials, and molecular profiling capabilities. Through its services, Sarah Cannon is providing state-of-the-art cancer care close to home for hundreds of thousands of patients, a number unmatched by any single cancer center. To learn more about Sarah Cannon, visit sarahcannon.com.