Our mission is to provide personalized, quality and innovative cancer care to patients throughout the state of Kansas in a compassionate and respectful environment; and to make available the most appropriate and current diagnostic and therapeutic modalities through our commitment to excellence in medical oncology and hematology.
The Cancer Center of Kansas (CCK) was first founded under the original name of Wichita Hematology/Oncology Group by Dr. Harry Hynes in 1975, in response to the growing need for patients with cancer to receive quality care and treatment. The first treatment center was established in Wichita, but as one of the only oncology practices in the state, patients were traveling from near and far to receive quality cancer care only in Wichita.
As patient needs grew, Dr. Hynes needed help to keep up. So in 1981, Dr. Dakhil joined the team.
Believing patients shouldn’t have to travel hundreds of miles to receive state-of-the-art treatment, CCK developed the first community-based nationally recognized research program, the Wichita Community Clinical Oncology Program (Wichita CCOP), through the National Cancer Institute (NCI) which later changed its name to NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP).
After the first rural treatment center was opened and the physicians were able to see the overwhelmingly positive response from the surrounding communities and patients, the inspiration grew to find needs in other communities in the state. To do this, the medical team needed to grow and CCK remained committed to only bringing the best oncologists possible, so Dr. Michael Cannon joined the team in 1986.
Realizing that some patients still had to drive long distances for care, CCK opened a Dodge City location to serve rural residents in the western half of the state.
Dr. Johnson joins the team in 1989 to initiate and maintain the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program. In addition to this year, our first Salina office opened.
In 1994, Dr. Dennis Moore Jr. joined CCK after earning several awards and honors from his appointment at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Texas.
In 1999, Dr. Bassam Mattar joined the group and allowed more communities to be served. In addition, CCK brought broader treatment options to the Dodge City community by starting the Dodge City Radiation in 1999, which was offered for almost 20 years before retiring this service in 2019.
Unfortunately, in 2000, Dr. Hynes made the difficult decision to retire from the practice and lost his own battle with cancer the same year, but his accomplishments and legacy continued to live on in the practice and with the physicians, staff and patients who held great love and respect for him.
Dr. Dakhil became the President of CCK upon Dr. Hynes retirement.
The Wichita Medical Arts Tower was acquired in 2002. During the acquisition, Dr. Dennis Moore Sr. joined the practice. Dr. Moore was the first oncologist in Kansas and quickly became one CCK’s legacy physicians.
In addition, with the opening of the Pratt, KS office, Dr. William Jennings came on board to serve the Pratt community full-time for over 20 years before retiring in 2017.
Joining the practice soon thereafter in Wichita were Dr. Thomas Schulz (2000), Dr. Nassim Nabbout (2002), Dr. Pavan Reddy and Dr. Phu Truong (2005). With the significant growth over those years, CCK stayed committed to always trying to provide access to quality cancer care to every part of the state of Kansas, whenever feasible. This brought CCK to additional communities across the state including Kingman, Liberal, Parsons, El Dorado, Independence and Fort Scott.
With all of the physicians traveling from Wichita, the treatment centers in each community were and continue to be anchored by the well-trained and committed staff from such community who run the offices and care for the patients daily. Dr. Seth Page joined the CCK team in 2010 and Dr. Chris Dakhil only two years later.
In 2012, CCK extended its oncology practice to Manhattan, KS, where patients are seen by two local oncologists, Dr. Eric Carlson and Dr. Travis Koeneke.
Dr. Jeremy Deutsch and Dr. Quoc Truong came in 2013 to round out the team of oncologists serving CCK patients out of Wichita, KS and throughout the state. Other communities also served by the CCK staff are McPherson, Junction City, Marysville, and Neodesha.
