As the promise of 2022 looms on the horizon, most people are anxious to close the books on what is likely the most unsettling year — from the pandemic to politics to supply chain shortages — we will ever experience. Strong leadership has never been more essential than it is today. To share their best leadership practices, Az Business magazine sat down with Arizona business leaders to watch in 2022, including Kevin Tulipana, MD, executive vice president of the Arizona market for Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Phoenix.
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Highlights of Kevin Tulipana, MD interview
Dr. Tulipana is dedicated to providing compassionate, patient-centered care. An ordained deacon with the Catholic Church, Dr. Tulipana is finely tuned to both the physical and spiritual needs of his patients.
THE FIGHT AGAINST CANCER: “We’re making headway, we really are. When you look at life expectancy or mortality related with certain cancers over the last five to 10 years, there’s been significant improvement. The new class of drugs and the immunotherapies that are out there are making a remarkable difference, even in people who have later-stage disease. I anticipate with the rapid progression of some of the genomic work that’s going on, we’re going to see even more dramatic improvement in the future with treatment.”
REDUCING CANCER RISK: “I think the one part we continue to struggle with as a society is the risk mitigation strategies — those things that you can do to prevent cancer in yourself. People often forget. Most people think immediately to the genetic abnormalities in themselves that lead to risk of cancers. That’s only about 10% of cancers at most. We know that 40% of cancers are caused by people’s own lifestyle choices, things like smoking, things that lead to obesity, inactivity, all those things that we can modify. That, unfortunately, we have not made progress in. So, as much progress as we’re making on the treatment side, we need to make as much progress on the prevention side.”
INDUSTRY OUTLOOK: “When you start with the cancer itself, I really am hopeful that we’ll get to a point where we can identify things early enough and really tailor treatment to take care of most cancers as they show up in early stages. Can we get to the point that we prevent all cancers? That’s a big stretch, but I do think that we have, in our lifetimes, possibly the ability to get to tailored treatment. As far as Cancer Treatment Centers of America, I really have an optimistic outlook. As Phoenix continues to grow, there are so many patients that are not being served not only in Phoenix, but also in the Arizona market itself. So I would like to see Cancer Treatment Centers of America broaden our reach and to let people know that we’re here for them. I’m optimistic. I’m excited. I think there’s a lot on the horizon that’s going to make us be able to catapult and grow even faster. So, the future is bright.”
