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Cancer has been around for over 20,000 years, but we’ve only been able to treat it for about the last century, and treating cancer had a bumpy start.
From the radical mastectomies and crude radiation treatments of the late 1800s to a chemotherapy treatment achieving the first cancer remission in 1948, the research has inspired the oncology community to continue to improve cancer treatment options. By the 1970s, it turned the public’s opinion of the oncology field from being a ‘fringe science’ into a highly respected, full-blown medical specialty. And with this increased credibility for the industry, Dr. Paul Koch founded Green Bay Oncology in 1976. He was the first medical oncologist in Northeastern Wisconsin and offered only 6 treatments with no partners. But that quickly changed. Today, Dr. Koch’s practice currently has 13 oncology doctors, offers hundreds of treatment options, and has helped over 60,000 cancer patients receive the treatment and care they deserve.
In this episode, we speak with Green Bay Oncology’s “Founding Fathers” – Dr. Paul Koch, Dr. Gerald Bayer, Dr. Jules Blank, and Dr. Skip McGovern. We discuss Green Bay Oncology’s humble beginnings and how treating cancer has significantly evolved over the last 45+ years. We discuss what inspired them to get involved in the oncology field and how they developed a system to treat patients quickly. They share what a typical workday was like in the early days of the practice and the strategies Paul and his partners used to grow the company over the years. We also discuss what it was like as an on-call doctor before the invention of cell phones, how technology has enabled us to improve the way we treat patients, and what they miss the most about working with patients since they’ve retired.
“I felt like I could make a difference.”
– Dr. Skip McGovern
This week on Cancer Covered:
- What inspired Paul, Jules, Skip, and Gerald to become oncology specialists
- The number of cancer treatment drugs that were available in the 1970s
- The strategy they adopted to treat patients quickly
- The strategies they used to grow the practice
- Going on the road to treat patients
- What the typical workday was like when Green Bay Oncology began
- What it was like as an on-call oncologist during the 1980s
- What they miss the most about working in oncology since they’ve retired
We’ve Got Cancer…Covered.
Thanks for tuning into this week’s Cancer Covered with Green Bay Oncology episode.
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