UAMS Breast Cancer Program Earns Fourth National Accreditation
| The Breast Cancer Program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute has earned reaccreditation from the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC) for the fourth time in 10 years.
The UAMS Breast Cancer Program first received accreditation from NAPBC in 2014 and was reaccredited in 2017 and 2020. NAPBC is a program of the American College of Surgeons and represents a consortium of national professional organizations dedicated to improving of the quality of care and monitoring of outcomes for patients with diseases of the breast.
“Being recognized again by NAPBC distinguishes the UAMS Breast Cancer Program as one of the leading breast cancer treatment programs in the United States,” said Ronda S. Henry-Tillman, M.D., chief of breast oncology at UAMS and the Muriel Balsam Kohn Chair in Breast Surgical Oncology at UAMS.
The UAMS Breast Cancer Program is one of only two NAPBC-accredited programs in Arkansas and the only one with four national accreditations.
“We offer the most advanced surgical options for women with breast cancer, including reconstructive surgery and the largest number of clinical trials in the state. We are experts in the screening, diagnosis and clinical management of breast cancer,” said Henry-Tillman.
“NAPBC is also recognizing us for the work we do to increase access to breast cancer screening and treatment to women in rural areas and the cutting-edge ideas we are bringing to through education and research,” she added.
The UAMS Breast Cancer Program includes four dedicated breast pathologists who provide critical staging information to oncologists and guide treatment decisions, as well as surgical oncologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, genetic counselors, behavioral medicine specialists and researchers.
The NAPBC accreditation is granted only to programs that are voluntarily committed to providing the best in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment and able to comply with established NAPBC standards.
The UAMS Breast Center, a part of the UAMS Breast Cancer program, is also designated as a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology, a designation it has held since 2013.
“This designation shows our excellence in every aspect of breast imaging, as it requires not only the mandatory accreditation for mammography, but also voluntary accreditations for breast ultrasound, stereotactic core biopsy and breast MRI,” said Gwendolyn Bryant-Smith, M.D., associate professor of radiology in the UAMS College of Medicine and director of the Breast Center at the Cancer Institute.