Georgia Cancer Specialists (GCS) has named Dr. J. Bancroft Lesesne president and interim CEO following the resignation of Dr. Bruce A. Feinberg from the positions. Dr. Cheryl Jones has been named vice president, filling Dr. Lesesne’s vacant position. Remaining in their positions are Dr. Wendy Hawke Lenz as chief operating officer, Ron Fleming as chief financial officer, and Dr. Al Soltan as secretary.
Dr. Lesesne will lead GCS, a Top 10 private cancer practice in the U.S., until a permanent CEO successor to Dr. Feinberg is named. Dr. Lesesne formerly served as vice president and Chief Medical Officer of GCS, is on the Board of Directors at Northside Hospital, and is a past president of the Georgia Society of Clinical Oncology (GASCO).
Dr. Feinberg will leave the practice September 30 to accept a position at Cardinal Health, Inc.
Dr. Lenz said, “The Board of Directors of GCS wholeheartedly and gratefully thanks Dr. Feinberg for his stewardship, vision, friendship, and leadership over his 23 years as president and CEO of Cancer Specialists of Georgia and Georgia Cancer Specialists. We all wish him the very best.”
“Operations at GCS will remain unchanged, and we will continue to do what we do best: provide our patients with uninterrupted, state-of-the-art care by a health care team that is unrivaled in the country,” Dr. Lenz said.
The practice will conduct a thorough review process, beginning this month, to determine its permanent leadership structure going forward.
Dr. Feinberg was instrumental in establishing Georgia Cancer Specialists, the largest and first integrated oncologic specialty practice in the Southeast, when he merged the nine-physician Cancer Specialists of Georgia with a second practice, the nine-physician Georgia Oncology Hematology Clinic P.C., in 1995. Starting with 14 offices and 18 physicians, GCS has grown to 29 offices and 44 physicians, becoming the dominant oncology practice in Georgia.
As president and Chief Executive Officer of GCS, Dr. Feinberg has expanded community access to oncology care by bringing the latest cancer treatments, technologies, and clinical trials closer to the patient.
“I will forever cherish the time that we together built the finest cancer care delivery model in the nation,” Dr. Feinberg said in a message to the GCS staff.
Dr. Lesesne is a member of the American College of Physicians and the American Society of Clinical Oncology and is board certified in oncology and internal medicine. He completed his medical degree at Duke University in Durham, NC, his residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and his fellowship at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. His special interests are in the areas of general medical oncology, including colon cancer, prostate cancer, and breast cancer, as well as lymphoma.
Dr. Lesesne and Dr. Feinberg were among nine GCS physicians recently named Top Doctors in Metro Atlanta in the third edition of Consumer Checkbook’s Consumers’ Guide to Top Doctors, one of the top medical reference guides in the country.
Dr. Feinberg will lead the Healthcare Solutions division with Cardinal Health, Inc., a Fortune 17 company that improves the cost-effectiveness of health care. As the business behind health care, Cardinal Health helps pharmacies, hospitals, and ambulatory care sites focus on patient care while reducing costs, improving efficiency and quality, and increasing profitability. Cardinal Health employs more than 30,000 people worldwide and has $99 billion in annual revenues.
Georgia Cancer Specialists is a Top 10 private cancer practice in the U.S. and a leader in advanced cancer treatment and research. The practice supports more than 200,000 patient visits each year. GCS offers community-based medical oncology and hematology services and is the first private oncology practice to also provide a full range of support services for patients in Georgia, including nutritional counseling, pain management, wellness counseling, and home health coordination. The GCS research department, whose focus is bringing targeted cancer therapy to communities, is the first in Georgia to offer Phase I clinical trials, the most novel cancer therapies available. GCS has 29 offices, 44 physicians, and more than 500 support staff members located in Metro Atlanta, North and Central Georgia, Southeast Tennessee, and Southwest North Carolina. Georgia Cancer Specialists can be found on the web at www.gacancer.com. GCS is The Cancer Answer.