Minutes of the Rotary Meeting
July 27, 2017
By Kathy Miller
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by John Dukes at 12:15 pm. Wayne Miller offered the invocation and Larry Sindel led the club in song and the Pledge of Allegiance. Tom Martinstein welcomed members’ guests.
Announcements: John Dukes reminded members of the Tarpon Tournament next week and the Captains’ Reception on August 3rd at Ruth’s Chris. He also gave an update in regard to Camp ASCCA. Ken Neimeyer updated the Club about the Little Lending Libraries. Brenda Litchfield reported on her upcoming trip to Thailand and the Rotary GED project there.
Program: Tom McGee introduced Thad Beeker, M.D. Dr. Beeker serves as Director of the stem cell transplant program at Mitchell Cancer Institute. Dr. Beeker is a graduate of Wake Forest University and East Carolina University School of Medicine. He completed a fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He was in private practice as a hematologist/oncologist for over 20 years and in March 2007 he joined the Southern Cancer Center.
Dr. Beeker described the mission of the Mitchell Cancer Institute: Research, Education and Healthcare. He outlined statistics regarding the occurrence of cancer. Significantly, one in two men and one in three women will develop cancer in their lifetime. He explained that MCI’s emphasis is providing “diseased focused care” and developing comprehensive, state of the art treatment programs customized for each patient. MCI is employing physicians who specialize in certain tumors.
Dr. Beeker’s focus is multiple myeloma. He described multiple myeloma and the progression of this cancer. He outlined the history of the treatment of multiple myeloma and state of the art therapies. He described how survival rates from multiple myeloma have increased over the years. Mr. Dukes presented Dr. Beeker with a certificate recognizing his speaking to the Club.
Adjournment: After announcing members’ birthdays, John adjourned the meeting at 1:00 p.m.
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