An on-site pharmacist at a cancer institute offers many benefits to patients, physicians and other providers. Simmons Cancer Institute at SIU in Springfield (SCI) currently is the only outpatient chemotherapy infusion center in the area not affiliated with a hospital that has a full-time pharmacist on staff.

SCI pharmacist Rob Nelson has over twenty years of work focused on oncology pharmacy. He works with the physicians and patients at SCI to be sure that  medications are available in a timely fashion and the ordering process is safe and efficient. Standardizing chemotherapy production — beginning with the medications that patients receive prior to chemotherapy through the end of their treatment — often results in fewer side effects and fewer delays in treatment.

“We like to get people in and out of here as efficiently and safely as possible so they can go about their lives,” Nelson says. His close work with the patients also allows him to assist those who are having pain control issues or want to work on a certain side effect of chemotherapy.

As a licensed pharmacist, Nelson qualifies as investigational drug coordinator for clinical trials, allowing SCI to offer an expanded array of clinical research opportunities to patients. “Many times, the best treatment for a certain cancer will be something that’s in a clinical trial,” Nelson says.

Read more about Rob Nelson, other programs offered at SCI.

Learn more about the clinical trials offered at SCI.