Kelly Foster MD Joins TGH Cancer Center of South Florida in Palm Beach County

 

Dr. Kelly Foster joins a team of specialists and will focus on the further development of clinically excellent, comprehensive, compassionate cancer care.

 

Tampa, FL (April 5, 2022) – Dr. Kelly Foster, a medical oncologist specializing in breast and gastrointestinal cancers, has joined Tampa General | Cancer Center of South Florida in Palm Beach County as part of its initiative to serve more patients across the state.

Foster will serve as medical oncologist and will primarily focus on breast and gastrointestinal cancers at the Tampa General | Cancer Center of South Florida in Palm Beach. She will be an integral part of helping connect more people to the complex care they need, including clinical trials through Tampa General Hospital's (TGH) Cancer Institute based at the academic medical center’s main campus in Tampa.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity to touch the lives of patients throughout the Palm Beach and Treasure Coast area, using the tremendous resources and talent of one of the country’s top academic medical centers,’’ said Foster, who was a medical oncologist at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago before moving to Florida.

For the last two years, Tampa General has been creating a framework of state-of-the-art services for patients in the Palm Beach and Treasure Coast area with the expertise and innovation of an academic medical center. The east coast initiative includes alliances with the Cancer Center of South Florida and the Gastro Group of the Palm Beaches. Last fall, the hospital established TGH General Surgeons of the Palm Beaches and in November opened the first Tower Radiology location in the area, a PET/CT imaging center.

“Adding Foster to this cancer institute plan is a plus for everyone, especially patients,” said Dr. Abraham Schwarzberg, chief of oncology and senior vice president of network development at Tampa General. “Not only is Dr. Foster a highly regarded oncologist, she’s gifted at caring for people on a personal level. She brings to the table both the medical expertise and the compassion for each individual and their needs.”

Foster’s approach to patient care is based on personal experience, as both her parents have dealt with cancer. This helped her learn all aspects of a patient’s cancer journey. As a result, she is passionate about the science as well as prevention, patient communication and advocacy.

In Chicago, she completed her internal medicine residency and her medical oncology and palliative medicine fellowship training at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University. She received her undergraduate degree at UCLA and then moved to Chicago to complete medical school at Loyola University. She is board certified in medical oncology, internal medicine and palliative medicine, and is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

“My training combined with my personal experience informs my approach to comprehensive care – looking at the patient as a whole person who also may need such services as nutritional information, physical therapy and emotional support for the best possible outcome,” Foster said.

Tampa General | Cancer Center of South Florida oncologists work in collaboration to provide comprehensive treatment options in a seamless manner. The team takes a multidisciplinary approach and strongly emphasizes compassionate and personalized care through a highly coordinated range of multidisciplinary specialties such as hematologic malignancies, thoracic oncology, breast, colorectal and gynecologic oncology.

Patients who need a higher level of care have a direct connection to Tampa General’s academic medical center resources, including research breakthroughs, a wider variety of clinical trials and options for advanced immunotherapy procedures, enhanced personal treatment plans and a convenient path to complex surgeries available through Tampa General Hospital. Patients who receive more complex procedures or treatment at Tampa General will be able to follow up with their local physician upon returning home.

Advanced subspecialties are offered as well, including liver and hepatobiliary oncology, otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat) and genitourinary (reproductive system and genitourinary tract). Tampa General will continue to take a multidisciplinary approach and will strongly emphasize compassionate and personalized care that focuses on the whole patient. For more information about the Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute, visit https://www.tgh.org/institutes-and-services/cancer-institute.

 

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL
Tampa General Hospital, a 1,041-bed non-profit academic medical center, is one of the largest hospitals in America and delivers world-class care as the region’s only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. Tampa General Hospital is the highest-ranked hospital in the market in U.S. News & World Report's 2021-22 Best Hospitals, and one of the top 4 hospitals in Florida, with five specialties ranking among the best programs in the United States. The academic medical center’s commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by two prestigious 2021 Forbes magazine rankings – America’s Best Employers by State, third out of 100 Florida companies and first among health care and social organizations and 13^th nationally in America’s Best Employers for Women. Tampa General is the safety net hospital for the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal 2020 provided a net community benefit worth more than $182.5 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. It is one of the nation’s busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With five medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center and its 32-bed Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed Level IV neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital’s footprint includes 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Brandon Healthplex, TGH Virtual Health and 19 outpatient Radiology Centers. Tampa Bay residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track network of clinics, and they can even receive home visits in select areas through TGH Urgent Care at Home, powered by Fast Track.  As one of the largest hospitals in the country, Tampa General Hospital is first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that uses artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost.  For more information, go to www.tgh.org.