Educating Patients and their Families

The Division of Oncology is committed to providing innovative, timely, state-of-the art patient care. This commitment is reinforced in our teaching program by our full-time and adjunct clinical faculty members. Ongoing research supports this patient-doctor partnership.

Outpatient care and clinical investigations for ambulatory cancer patients are conducted at theStanford Cancer Center, housed in the Stanford Advanced Medicine Center. Inpatients receive care in the dedicated Oncology Service and in the Blood and Marrow Transplant Service, which are located in the Stanford University Hospital, contiguous to the Medical Center. Clinical care is also provided at the Veterans’ Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS) Medical Center in nearby Palo Alto.

There are approximately 15,000 new outpatient visits per month and 5500 returning patient visits per month, or a total of more than 80,000 patient visits per year, in the Cancer Center. Faculty clinics emphasizing subspecialty or general oncology treat patients with a wide variety of cancers. Clinics are held Monday through Friday in the Stanford Cancer Center. Combined modality clinics offer subspecialty care in head and neck cancer, Hodgkin’s disease, genitourinary cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, gynecologic cancer, lung cancer, and breast cancer. These clinics are attended by medical oncologists, hematologists, radiation therapists and surgeons. Outpatient clinics in general oncology are held twice weekly at the VAPAHCS.

An important aspect of patient care is treating the patient as well as addressing the myriad of questions family members pose. Patients and their families can access information about their particular condition at the Stanford Health Library.

Referrals to Stanford

Physicians who wish to consult about cancer patients or make a referral to the Oncology Service should phone 650-498-6000 during business hours, or the 24/7 physicians' hotline at 1-800-756-5000.

For more information, see the Stanford Cancer Center or send email to: Referral Nurse

International Patients

All international patients are scheduled through International Medical Services (IMS). The patients or their physicians should contact IMS in the Stanford University Medical Center to arrange referrals. Call (650) 723-8561, check the IMS web site for a list of worldwide toll-free access numbers (scroll to the bottom of the page to find them), or email: ims@medcenter.stanford.edu