COLUMBUS, Ohio – One of the country’s foremost experts in breast cancer and a widely recognized name in the central Ohio cancer community has been named director of the newly opened JamesCare Comprehensive Breast Center.

Dr. William Farrar, a national authority on breast cancer detection and treatment, will be responsible for all aspects of clinical service provided at the new four-story center located at the corner of Olentangy River Road and Third Avenue.

“For many years Bill has been at the hub of Ohio State’s landmark breast cancer prevention and treatment initiatives,” says Dr. Michael Caligiuri, director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and CEO of the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC--James). “We look to him to strengthen our clinical activities and to help us enhance our patient-focused breast cancer programs,”

Caligiuri says Farrar has an outstanding reputation among his peers and a relentless and strategic approach to cancer.

“Bill stops at nothing to identify an appropriate treatment or potential cure for his patients, and he consistently raises the bar for himself and others on his team,” says Caligiuri. “He has a great vision for what the future holds for the prevention, detection, treatment and cure for breast cancer, and he will be a great asset as director of JamesCare Comprehensive Breast Center.”

The newly opened JamesCare Comprehensive Breast Center is central Ohio’s only comprehensive breast cancer center, and first in the Midwest to offer under one roof the full continuum of breast cancer care, from prevention and screening through detection, diagnosis, treatment and survivorship. Patients at the new facility are treated by a multidisciplinary team of oncologists whose sole focus is the study and treatment of breast cancer, in addition to personalized and preventive care.

Farrar will continue to see patients and, as director, develop the new center’s clinical strategy.

Dr. Steven Gabbe, CEO of Ohio State University Medical Center, says Farrar’s appointment to direct the new center sends a strong message about the caliber of services patients can expect.

“Bill is a leader in every sense of the word,” said Gabbe. “He is on the front lines of the latest research for breast cancer, and his compassion for patients is beyond measure.”

As a surgical resident at Ohio State in 1976, Farrar was mentored by Dr. Arthur G. James, the namesake of The James. It was James himself, a respected cancer surgeon, who urged Farrar to pursue surgical oncology. Following a two-year fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, Farrar was recruited back to Ohio State in 1982. Three years later, he was named director of the division of surgical oncology, an appointment he continues to hold.

“I’m proud to be selected for this new challenge and the opportunity to work closely with a very talented staff that includes clinicians and researchers who have world-class stature in the field of breast oncology,” said Farrar, who holds the Arthur G. and Mildred C. James - Richard J. Solove Chair in Surgical Oncology.

Farrar has held many leadership positions on the national and local levels, and he has been the principal investigator on several grants and pivotal clinical trials in breast cancer. He also is an invited speaker at medical conferences around the country.

The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (cancer.osu.edu) is one of only 40 Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States designated by the National Cancer Institute. Ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top cancer hospitals in the nation, The James is the 205-bed adult patient-care component of the cancer program at The Ohio State University. The OSUCCC – James is one of only seven centers in the country funded by the NCI to conduct both phase I and phase II clinical trials.

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David Crawford
Public Affairs and Media Relations
614-293-3737
crawford.1@osu.edu