News

Dr. Radford leaves legacy of lives saved, research to fight cancer

Dr. James Radford

By Pardee UNC Health, Published: December 24, 2021

Everyone hopes that when they reach the end of our career, they can look back and say they’ve accomplished their goals.

Dr. James Radford, an oncologist at Pardee Cancer Center, had two goals going into his profession: to never be bored and to leave thinking he had done something that wouldn’t have been done or done as well if he had not been there.

As he prepares to retire from a remarkable career, there is no doubt that he can check these boxes. Radford touched the lives of many people through his compassionate care and the development of the cancer research program at Pardee, which has given thousands of patients access to a large number of national and international clinical trials of new cancer therapies.

During Radford’s second year of college, his mother was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. Though her treatment went well, her diagnosis came before medical oncology was a specialty and before families had someone available to answer their questions, provide other treatment options, or help patients learn how to deal with such a difficult life event. That experience made Radford want to be that person for others.
After studying medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, he completed a residency in oncology and pursued a fellowship in hematology at the University of Iowa. He began his medical career in academic medicine, serving on the faculty at both Wake Forest University and the University of Minnesota. When he made the decision to pursue another field of medicine, he chose to be closer to his family in Western North Carolina and moved to Hendersonville.
Once in Hendersonville and practicing with Pardee, Radford developed Pardee’s Cancer Research Program and has remained the principal investigator for more than 22 years.
“It seemed like an obligation to the community,” he said. “Establishing this program was the one thing that I could do besides treating my individual patients, it was the one thing I could do to help move the field forward for my kids and grandkids and everyone else.”

The clinical trials programs at Pardee, through which patients are able to access a large number of national and international clinical trials of new cancer therapies, began in 1999 with only Radford and one research nurse, Karen Morris. Morris ultimately became the Cancer Research Coordinator for the program. They’ve since grown the program to four researchers while maintaining 50 to 55 open studies continuously since the program’s inception.

Under Radford’s leadership and membership in the Southeast Clinical Oncology Research program, Pardee’s Cancer Research Program has allowed people in Henderson County and the surrounding areas to be enrolled in clinical studies among 20+ community cancer centers across the southeast. Typically, clinical trials at larger metropolitan hospitals were limited only to people with very complex cases. The reality was that these larger medical centers also needed access to patients with less complex cases — a stage two breast cancer, for example. Radford saw an opportunity in that he and his team had access to a large base of patients that scientists at other centers needed for clinical trials. With Radford's encouragement and guidance, Pardee was able to become a part of a cooperative cancer research group where major medical centers banded together to write clinical trials requiring more patients than any individual program would have.

By participating in this cooperative research group, and later becoming a community clinical oncology program, patients benefit because they are able to participate in a clinical trial out of UCLA, for example, without traveling to do so. Likewise, the UCLA trial that needed 5,000 patients can now complete their research in two years instead of 20 years, with the addition of community cancer centers like Pardee joining the larger pool of hospitals.

In 2009, Radford was honored for his research with the David King Community Clinical Scientist Award through the Association of Community Cancer Centers. It’s one of his most cherished honors because Radford’s goal all along was to make sure he “made some difference on this earth.” Though he will say that he only made a difference “in hundreds of little ways, not in big ways,” his patients and colleagues believe otherwise. Radford has been voted one of North Carolina’s Best Doctors for Medical Oncology and Hematology every year since 2005 and has made the list of Best Doctors in America nine times.

“I am grateful to Dr. Radford for his innovation and leadership over the years and his work that has truly transformed cancer care for Henderson County,” said Jay Kirby, president and CEO, Pardee UNC Health Care. “He is beloved by his patients and admired by his colleagues at Pardee. He is going to be greatly missed, but he will leave knowing he has made an impact on our ability to connect our patients to clinical trials and further cancer research. I am thankful for his dedication to this community and wish him all the best in his retirement.”

Radford has left an incredibly valuable legacy in Western North Carolina. Through his work over more than two decades, thousands of patients have recovered from cancer and lives have been saved. “My patients are often kind enough to tell me, ‘I’m so glad you were my doctor,’” Radford said. “They’re telling me that I made a difference that I don’t think someone else would have made and that’s the real accomplishment in my career.”

Radford is thankful for his time serving this community and grateful for the ways he has been able to move cancer research forward and foster relationships with his patients over the years. “I will miss that moment when I walk into a patient’s room and say ‘Hey, welcome back. How are things?’”

Radford’s last day with Pardee is Dec. 31. He said he looks forward to fishing and spending time with his wife, Heidi, and their three children.