Heslin also is section chief of UAB’s surgical oncology division, and is an associate scientist at the Cancer Center specializing in research and treatment advances for gastrointestinal cancers.

In his new position, Heslin will be responsible for managing and refining the Integrated Multidisciplinary Clinical Care Program (IMCCP) at the Cancer Center.

The program was launched to monitor and coordinate clinical programs to ensure smooth, family-friendly and efficient clinic and doctor visits for every cancer patient and their caregivers.

Components of the IMCCP likely will include patient care coordinators for each of the Cancer Center’s clinical units, along with trained ambassadors and navigators to guide patients through the various treatment schedules, multidisciplinary disease clinics and help them to overcome any barriers to medical care.

Heslin chairs a committee of UAB clinical program leaders working to put the new plan into widespread use, said Cancer Center Director Edward Partridge, M.D.

“We are thrilled that Dr. Heslin has accepted this position,” Partridge said. “His work in starting a multidisciplinary clinic for GI cancers makes him an ideal candidate to make our IMCCP program a huge success."

An associate chief of staff at UAB Hospital, Heslin came to the university in 1996. Before that he earned his medical degree from State University of New York Health Science Center at Syracuse College of Medicine and served as chief resident in surgery at New York University Medical Center in Manhattan. He completed a surgical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer in New York.

UAB’s Comprehensive Cancer Center is the only one within a five-state region around Alabama to have the U.S. National Institutes of Health “comprehensive” designation.