St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center and the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix today announced an agreement to create the Valley Fever Center based at the hospital. The center will be directed by John Galgiani, MD, who has more than 30 years of experience in treating and researching Valley Fever and founded the Valley Fever Center of Excellence in Tucson in 1996.
The center plans to see patients by the beginning of 2012, said Linda Hunt, president and chief executive officer of St. Joseph’s Hospital, and Stuart D. Flynn, MD, dean of the College of Medicine - Phoenix, in announcing the agreement on Tuesday.
“We are really excited about this opportunity,” Hunt said. “Valley Fever has been a serious problem for so long. It’s truly Arizona’s disease. This partnership will create a place to coordinate comprehensive care for patients, educate doctors, and support research to improve the care of Valley Fever and eventually cure and prevent the disease altogether.”
Dr. Flynn added, “We are very fortunate that we have this renowned center from which to draw great Valley Fever treatment and research. This new program in Phoenix is a milestone because there will be an academic focus where most of the affected patients are located.”
There are approximately 150,000 new Valley Fever infections annually in the United States. Fully two-thirds of these affect Arizonans, mostly in Maricopa County. Pets, especially dogs, are also susceptible. Some patients take up to many months to recover and each year Valley Fever is responsible for several dozen deaths. This new center gives Phoenix-area patients the best available treatment options. It will also serve to coordinate interdisciplinary care by clinicians throughout Maricopa County and even across the state.
“St. Joseph’s Hospital is an outstanding medical facility with nationally recognized neurosurgical expertise in the Barrow Neurological Institute,” said Dr. Galgiani. “Having the UA College of Medicine now in Phoenix can build on these resources and increase the opportunities for medical education and biomedical research to connect with the clinical activities.”
Dr. Galgiani also noted that many doctors in Phoenix already have a lot of experience with diagnosing and treating the disease.
“The problem is that patients with Valley Fever often cannot find the right doctor or they have such complicated problems that they can’t get all of the needed expertise coordinated,” Dr. Galgiani said. “The new center is planned to integrate the skills of many specialists resulting in better care for patients and better support for physicians through coordination and consultation.”
“I hope we can get the community behind this new Valley Fever Center in Phoenix and help it succeed,” said Jim Meenaghan, a retired insurance executive who has organized a community group to support this program.
Like others in his group, Meenaghan knows firsthand how important an accurate diagnosis of Valley Fever can be.
“I was very fortunate to have doctors who quickly recognized my problem and got me the help I needed,” the Paradise Valley resident said. “A coordinated program to make sure that all Arizonans can get the same level of care that I did is necessary and the center will provide that.”
Valley Fever, whose medical name is coccidioidomycosis, is an infection that develops from inhaling spores which are released from a fungus that is endemic to much of Arizona’s Sonoran deserts and other parts of the southwestern United States. Most illnesses cause respiratory symptoms of pneumonia. In many, the illness runs its course whether or not it is diagnosed or treated by the body’s immune system. However, thousands of persons each year have very protracted medical problems and for them treatment and medical care often lasts for many years. There is no cure and no way to prevent infection if you live in an area where the fungus exists.
The Valley Fever Center for Excellence was approved in 1996 by the Arizona Board of Regents to help all of Arizona with this disease through education, research, and improved patient care. Research programs underway include improving diagnostics, developing possible cures, and discovering preventative vaccines. Two years ago, the Valley Fever Center for Excellence established the Valley Fever Alliance of Arizona Clinicians, an organization of clinicians to improve communication and patient referrals.
The new Valley Fever Center in Phoenix will now add to alliance’s capabilities by centralizing patient information that will be accessible by all center physicians, whether or not they are physically based at St. Joseph’s Hospital. The new center will also offer case management services which are often difficult to obtain for patients when they are not hospitalized. Once fully developed, the new center will offer to the most seriously afflicted patients all the different medical and surgical resources and expertise often essential to obtain the best possible results.
About the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix
The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix admitted its first class of first-year medical students in August 2007. The College of Medicine – Phoenix has 192 students training to be physicians. The college seeks to promote health and improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease for the people of Arizona and beyond through education, research and patient care.
About St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center
Located in the heart of Phoenix, Arizona, St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center is a 607-bed, not-for-profit hospital that provides a wide range of health, social and support services with special advocacy for the poor and underserved. St. Joseph’s is a nationally recognized center for quality tertiary care, medical education and research.
