Area's newest cancer doc to tackle local problems

The Gallup Cancer Center's newest oncologist Dr. Robert Oldham browses through one of his many books inside of his office on Wednesday afternoon. Dr. Oldham moved from Florida to Gallup a month ago because the Gallup Cancer Center is larger facility allowing him to perform more research than he did in Florida. [Photo by Matt Hinshaw/Independent]

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — When Dr. Robert Oldham came to Gallup from Georgia a little more than a month ago to be the area’s new specialist in medical oncology, he knew there would be a lot of differences.

Even when it came to the types of cancer he would be treating.

“I’ve seen more gallbladder cancers here in the last five weeks than I saw in the three years I was in Georgia,” he said.

But if there is one thing this area has more than Georgia, it’s Native Americans and Oldham already knew before he came here that Native Americans are more prone to get cancer of the gallbladder than other ethnic groups.

Oldham is here with the New Mexico Cancer Center, working with Dr. Jeffery Long, who is the radiation oncologist for the center. The difference between the two: Oldham works with drugs and Long works with the radiation machinery.

After receiving his medical degree in 1968 from the University of Missouri, Oldham has worked for the National Cancer Institute and a number of hospitals across the country, treating cancer patients as well as spending a portion of his time each week on research. Working four days at the center here, he plans to spend one day a week in Albuquerque with the University of New Mexico Cancer Research Center there working on research.

He’s internationally known for his work in the field of cancer and has held a number of professorships and board positions over the years, creating a number of oncology programs that are still going strong. For a list of all of his accomplishments, see the Web site www.cancer-therapeutics.com

With the startup of the New Mexico Cancer Center Gallup several months ago, more and more area residents are receiving treatment here instead of having to travel a couple of times a week to Farmington or Albuquerque. Oldham is also coming here at a time when the Gallup area population is getting older and cancer rates are on the increase.

That’s the bad news, as they say. The good news, said Oldham, is that patients today have a better chance of recovery from cancer than they did when he started out.

“Twenty-five years ago, the cure rate for cancer was in the area of 35 to 40 percent,” he said. “Today, it’s 65 percent.”

One reason for this is that while cancer is a word that can strike fear in anyone, the fear today isn’t as great as it was in the 1960s, because for many it’s not the death sentence it once was. For that reason, people are being going in and being checked out and doctors are finding the cancers earlier, which makes treatment a lot easier, as well as increasing the chances for survival.

But it’s still a long and complicated treatment for many. While some cancers can be treated by surgery, many others still need weeks, and sometimes months of treatment by drugs and/or radiation treatment, he said.

And almost every week, there seems to be an article in the paper that links cancer to some kind of food that everyone enjoys. Just last week, the big story was studies that linked steak and processed meats to colon cancer.

“We’ve known that for 50 years,” Oldham said, adding that the recent stories were based on new studies that just re-enforce these links.

So, if he had any piece of advice for people who wanted to reduce their risk of cancer, what would it be — early testing?

“Quit smoking,” he said, adding that reducing your weight if you are grossly overweight would also be a good idea. And watch what one eats.

That doesn’t mean that one has to become a vegetarian, he said, but eating certain foods — like those heavy in processed fat — in moderation would be a good idea.

And you can quit asking him and other doctors specializing in treating cancer when they think that magic pill will be found that will cure all types of cancer.

“It’s not going to happen,” he said. “Cancer is a complicated disease that requires a complicated treatment.”