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Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), the world’s most prestigious cancer center, has acknowledged the availability of world class cancer expertise and facilities in the Philippines with a Memorandum of Agreement creating a partnership with St. Luke’s Medical Center as its only International Affiliate in the Philippines.

The International Affiliate agreement was signed by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center executives John R. Gunn, Executive Vice President, and Dr. Thomas Fahey, Senior Vice President for Clinical Program & Development and director of International Oncology Programs, and St. Luke’s Medical Center President and Chief Executive Officer Joe Ledesma.

This honor is an affirmation of St. Luke’s leadership in the field of healthcare in the Philippines. With the formal affiliation, St. Luke’s is once again recognized for professional medical expertise, commitment to excellent patient care, the most comprehensive range of diagnostic and therapeutic services, and the most advanced technology in the country, comparable with the best medical institutions in the world.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s tradition of care for cancer patients began more than 100 years ago by fostering innovative basic-science research focused on cancer. Among MSKCC’s strengths in research include development biology and genetics, signals and pathways involved in the control of cell proliferation, cell-cell interactions, tumor immunology, immunotherapy and drug development, drug resistance and clinical therapeutics.

The affiliation agreement makes possible a real two-way collaboration between world class medical institutions in the United States and the Philippines. The affiliation aims to provide high quality cancer diagnosis and treatment for patients in the Philippines. The partnership is expected to enhance patient care through telemedicine as an integral part of the affiliation by using state-of-the-art computer technology to facilitate the clinical assessment and diagnosis, staging and treatment planning of patients with cancer and expect that based upon clinical assessment, some patients who personally prefer to be treated abroad may be referred to Memorial Sloan-Kettering for specific medical treatment and/or surgical procedure. In the same manner, patients of MSKCC may come to St. Luke’s for treatment and care.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering will provide training and access to its disease management protocols for selected St. Luke’s doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other paramedical personnel.

The alliance with Memorial Sloan-Kettering will establish a second-opinion program for St. Luke’s patients, who will receive the benefit without having to travel abroad for vital second opinions. The partnership between MSKCC and St. Luke’s will likewise foster an exchange of expertise, information and ideas; the exchange of and networking among medical, paramedical and management experts; and open avenues for collaborative medical research and work on clinical care of patients.