ACRH welcomes
newest oncologist
Finding a silver lining in the face of cancer can be an insurmountable obstacle for patients — but when they do, it makes Dr. Cinderella Chavez’s job worthwhile. AFTER WORKING with the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, Chavez moved to Emporia to work with the cancer center as part of a stipulation with her work visa.
Dr. Chavez is an oncologist with Central Care Cancer Network, which operates out of Salina. Her company recently expanded to Iola; she visits Allen County Regional Hospital twice a month to work with patients.
Chavez, 34, is originally from the Philippines, where she studied in Manila. She completed her residency and fellowship in New York, at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center of Columbia University and Hofstra North Shore Long Island Jewish Medical Center, respectively. She moved to Emporia in 2012 to work with the center.
“I got drawn to the field,” she said, during her studies in Manila. She worked with government hospitals in the area, and many of the patients she saw were “advanced cases.” She said the “Filipino way” was something that inspired her during her visits.
“They are certainly resilient, and they have a willingness to push through the care,” she said.
After moving to the U.S. in 2006, she has seen more of the same. She said cancer treatments are a dark reality to patients, but the diagnosis often brings out the best in them.
“The human spirit carries them through,” she said.
Essentially an “exchange scholar visa,” her visa stipulated that she either return to the Philippines to practice or practice in a “medically underserved area.” It led her to Kansas.
“It’s definitely different from New York,” she laughed.
She lives in Emporia with her husband, Cristian Radu, and said they enjoy the “sense of community” it offers — something that was hard to find in a large city. She and Radu, who were recently married in September, met online in New York. He is from Romania and works as a software engineer.
“The world is a small place,” Chavez said of her and her husband’s experience together. She said their integration into the Kansas culture has been a “gradual transformation” that they are still getting used to.
Chavez’s immediate family lives in Los Angeles, and she has some extended family still living in the Philippines (they were unharmed by the recent typhoon).
Chavez travels between Emporia, Iola and Wichita for her practice, and said she enjoys branching out into different areas to meet new patients.
“It’s very enriching,” she said. “I actually enjoy traveling out here.”
Chavez and her staff will be transferring to the new Allen County Regional Hospital Dec. 9.
