Dekalb Medical’s April Speed Receives National Award For Oncology Work

June 30, 2010 - PRLog -- Atlanta, GA – April L. Speed, M.D., a physician with DeKalb Medical at Hillandale, was recently named a recipient of the American Society of Clinical Oncology® (ASCO) Diversity in Oncology Initiative award, funded by Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. The program is the first of its kind designed to both increase the number of minority physicians entering oncology and to bring oncology services into underserved communities. Dr. Speed is one of only three oncologists in the United States to receive the Loan Repayment Program award granted this year.

Since joining DeKalb Medical in 2009, Dr. Speed has provided state-of-the-art care to men, women and adolescents in need of breast cancer and breast health treatment through her office, Hillandale Breast Surgery, located in Lithonia, Georgia, just outside Atlanta.

A highly sought-after speaker, lecturer and consultant on breast cancer and breast health, Dr. Speed embarked on a on a multimedia community outreach campaign to educate those at risk for breast cancer as soon as she opened her practice at DeKalb Medical. She is an esteemed member of American Society of Breast Surgeons, Society of Surgical Oncology and American College of Surgeons.

"We are blessed to attract a surgeon of Dr. Speed's caliber.  We recruited her from arguably the premiere Cancer center in the world, M.D. Anderson in Houston, Texas.  We’ve received wonderful comments on her surgical technique as well as her responsiveness to patients and physicians.  Hillandale is pleased to offer world-class breast cancer care," says Clay Fowler, F.A.C.H.E., Administrator, DeKalb Medical at Hillandale.

Dr. Speed completed an intensive dual breast surgical oncology fellowship with an emphasis in oncoplastics at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, a world leader in cancer care which awards only two fellowships in breast surgery per year. At the same time, she also completed the Susan G. Komen Multidisciplinary Fellowship with a focus on breast cancer awareness, prevention and education. Komen for the Cure® is “the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures.”

Prior to her work at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Speed completed both her residency and internship in general surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Ga. through Morehouse School of Medicine. She also earned a Doctor of Medicine from Morehouse.

For more information on ASCO, visit www.asco.org/diversity .

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About DeKalb Medical
A leader in cancer and heart attack treatment and orthopedics, DeKalb Medical is a non-profit hospital system serving half a million patients annually. Founded in Atlanta in 1961, the system includes the 451-bed DeKalb Medical at North Decatur. It was also named in the top 5% of all U.S. hospitals in 2009 and 2010 for clinical excellence by HealthGrades® and received theDistinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence award. In addition, the System also operates the 40-bed DeKalb Medical Long Term Acute Care at Downtown Decatur and the 100-bed DeKalb Medical at Hillandale in Lithonia. For more information on DeKalb Medical, visit www.dekalbmedical.org.