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There's No Place Like Home. Two Medical Doctors are Breaking Barriers in the Panhandle

Publication: KVII-TV (ABC, Amarillo)
12/10/2019

It’s the reason the phrase “No place like home,” has added meaning for two surgical oncologists. After completing advanced training across the country, the two women are making national history right here in the Texas Panhandle. Some could even say they’re breaking barriers.

Doctors Anne Doughtie and Rachel Weinheimer are Amarillo natives. They are the first female oncologists at Texas Oncology Surgical Specialists–Amarillo.

In 2016, Dr. Doughtie joined Texas Oncology as the only Texas Oncology surgeon practicing in the city of Amarillo. She later recruited Dr. Weinheimer, the only woman in the Panhandle to provide colonoscopies. The two medical doctors joined forces with hopes to build a larger surgical practice that would serve cancer patients in the Panhandle.

“This is home for me,” said Dr. Weinheimer, “The Panhandle has a unique population of tough and hard-working people who want to stay here to receive their cancer care. I'm motivated to treat the people in this community.”

In addition, the doctors say they are now able to diagnose patients at a “much earlier” stage. This is with the help of their new medical advancements and training which can “provide them with a potentially much better outcome,” said Dr. Weinheimer.

Under Dr. Doughtie’s leadership, the growing team of specialized surgeons in Amarillo can now treat cancer occurring in nearly every area of a patient’s body – a major advancement for the small community. Patients are now able to be treated for cancers in Amarillo that previously involved relocation to bigger cities.

“We're integrating different surgeries for breast cancer to where we're hiding incisions to where my personal goal for a woman is to have a hard time identifying where that cancer was,” said Dr. Doughtie. “Dr. Weinheimer is performing her robotic cases, minimally invasive when patients feel well, almost immediately after surgery. That's remarkable.”

The medical team said Texas Oncology Surgical Specialists–Amarillo has seen a drastic increase of patients, moreover, lives being saved. As their team continues to grow they said the future looks bright.

“We're trying to make a multidisciplinary Cancer Center where we're all under one roof,” said Dr. Doughtie. “To where patients can come and see a surgeon, a medical oncologist, a radiation oncologist every radiographer you know, whoever they need and get labs, treatment and imaging all done in the same building.”

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