By Deborah Allard
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Apr 27, 2009 @ 09:45 PM
FALL RIVER —

St. Anne’s Hospital will open a medical oncology office at Truesdale Clinic today as part of its expanded cancer care services.

The office at 1030 President Ave., room 307, will offer consultation, follow-up and hematology. Hospital officials say it will be more convenient for patients living in the city’s North End and those using Route 24 to travel for treatment.

Until now, all patients were seen at the hospital’s Hudner Oncology building on Middle Street.

“There’s always been a growing need of bringing (these services) to the patient,” said Terence P. Pickett, administrative director of St. Anne’s oncology services. “This additional office location offers patients a choice and convenience for consulting with St. Anne’s esteemed medical oncologists.”

Dr. Mark Shparber and Dr. J. Bruno Pestana, both longtime members of St. Anne’s oncology program, will provide services at the new office. They will also continue their roles at Hudner Oncology.

Shparber, who is fluent in Hebrew and Russian, cares for patients with all cancer diagnoses and has a special interest in blood cancers. He attended Tufts University School of Medicine and completed his residency at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, along with fellowships in hematology and oncology at Cornell Medical Center.

Pestana is fluent in Portuguese. He was educated in Brazil and completed his residency at the University of Miami/ Jackson Memorial Hospital, with fellowships in hematology at Jackson Memorial Hospital and University Hospital at Boston University.

Pickett said they will see new consults and follow-up patients. Patients with cancer often need follow-up care for two to five years following cancer treatments, sometimes longer.

St. Anne's has also expanded the Hudner Oncology, adding 750 square feet to accommodate a new image-guided linear accelerator to deliver radiation therapy. The new space has been used for several months and will be named for a donor next week.

Also, St. Anne’s is close to completing a $21 million cancer care center in NDartmouth on the campus of Hawthorn Medical Associates, 535 Faunce Corner Road.

Pickett said the new center is expected to start seeing patients by late July.

“We’re doing it for the very same reason, to get services out to the patient population,” Pickett said.

E-mail Deborah Allard at  dallard@heraldnews.com