Prestigious Medical Journal Showcases Two Physicians From St. Joseph’s Hospital And Medical Center

2/26/2014

Contact: Lynne Reaves, 602.406.4634

A recent edition of the highly prestigious New England Journal of Medicine includes two groundbreaking research papers by two physicians from St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix.

The New England Journal of Medicine is a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. Among the most prominent in the world, it is thought to be the oldest continuously published medical journal.

“For two of our physicians to have been published in the same edition is remarkable and underlines the superior level of medicine being practiced at St. Joseph’s and Barrow Neurological Institute,” said Patty White, president of St. Joseph’s.

Physicians and researchers from all over the world aspire to have their medical studies published in the Journal. More than 5,000 article submissions are received by the Journal each year, an average of approximately 18 submissions every business day. Of those, less than 5 percent are published.

The St. Joseph’s physicians, Bradley Monk, MD and David Brachman, MD, both published multi-year studies about cancer therapies in the Feb. 20 online edition. Dr. Monk’s study on cervical cancer is expected to result in a new standard of care for women with the disease. Dr. Brachman’s study on brain cancer revealed that a drug which was expected to be very promising in the treatment of a deadly brain cancer, did not perform as expected. His findings will help push research in new directions.

Dr. Monk is director of gynecologic oncology at St. Joseph’s Hospital and the University of Arizona Cancer Center at St. Joseph’s. Dr. Brachman is medical director of Radiation Oncology at St. Joseph’s Barrow Neurological Institute.

“Patients come from all over the world because of the extraordinary care they receive at St. Joseph’s and Barrow,” said White. “This edition of the Journal is a vivid reminder of why they come to us.”

St. Joseph’s is being increasingly recognized for its cancer program. In 2011, St. Joseph’s and the University of Arizona Cancer Center, the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center headquartered in Arizona, formed an innovative collaboration to offer unparalleled cancer care in Phoenix.