Call 314-ANTHONY or 800-554-9550 for
Cancer Care Services
Physician Profile
Eddy C. Hsueh, M.D.
Eric J. Sutphen, M.D.
Gregory J. Bailey, M.D., Ph.D.
Michael Gu, M.D.
Peter Fonseca, M.D., Ph.D., FACS
R. William Morris, M.D., M.B.A.
William J. Moriconi, M.D.
“My high school biology teacher told me I had the right personality and mind to be a doctor, so she inspired me to be a physician. When I was in medical school, I decided to become an internist specializing in general internal medicine because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to be,” he said.
Then cancer struck his family. “My grandmother came down with leukemia. My grandfather came down with colon cancer and my uncle had lung cancer. Immediately I was more interested in oncology,” he said.
“I had an opportunity in my medical residency to take a rotation at M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute in Houston, which was the top cancer hospital not only in the United States but in the world. In the mid ‘70s it was the best place to go if you had cancer. I went there and worked really hard, and they told me they wanted me to train as an oncologist there.”
The practice of oncology has been transformed during Dr. Morris’ career.
“The concept of cancer has changed entirely. We have truly turned cancer into, in many cases, a chronic disease. Our goal is still to cure cancer, and a lot more cancer is cured now. Even people we don’t cure are living with their disease for extended periods of time,” he said.
“Within the last 10 or 15 years, drugs have evolved to prevent people from getting severe nausea and vomiting with chemotherapy. Even with the drugs that could cause the most severe reactions, we can prevent that reaction 80 to 85 percent of the time. Whereas 25 years ago 80 percent of my patients were hospitalized because of treatment side effects, now 85 percent are treated in the office and about 15 percent are in the hospital.”
Dr. Morris also believes oncology has gained greater appreciation for the emotional needs of patients.
“We make sure we become aware early on of what a patient’s total needs might be,” he said. “It means talking about not only the clinical side of the disease but also how it is impacting them and their families. If we establish a dialogue up front with the patient and family or significant other, we can nip a lot of potential psychological, emotional or social problems in the bud, and get them into counseling or support groups or medications that can be helpful.”
Dr. Morris is a principal investigator with the Cancer and Acute Leukemia Group B, which is funded through the National Cancer Institute.
“St. Anthony’s offers us a unique opportunity to practice in a laid-back, familyoriented community. We practice state-of-the-art oncology that is as good as anyone’s. We offer care that is based on the same clinical research that used to be found only in university cancer centers, in a community setting which is close to home and where our patients’ friends and families know all the doctors and nurses,” Dr. Morris said.
Outcomes for cancer patients will continue to become more promising, and in dramatic ways, Dr. Morris said.
“If patients know their cancer either has a high chance of cure or a good chance of not making them miserable, that is the first step in having the right mind set to handle the demands of treatment. We emphasize that life is not about getting treatment for cancer, it is about living, being happy and laughing a lot. We are doing all we can to make cancer less scary, and at least a disease we can live with if we can’t beat it.”
For information, please call our Health Access Line at 314-ANTHONY (268-4669) or 800-554-9550 or visit our find a physician online.
At St. Anthony's, our vision is to be the area's premier health care organization — and your first choice for health care services.