Early in his medical career, Dr. Ravi Patel saw cancer patients in a way that inspired the founding of Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center. He recognized that cancer patients needed more care and attention, both medical and emotional, than most patients. Dr. Patel’s inspiration materialized here in Bakersfield in 1984 with the opening of a 1200 square foot, four-person office. What has evolved is a truly comprehensive cancer center whose mission is to provide compassionate care for the diagnosis, treatment, education and prevention of cancer using a state-of-the-art approach.

Over the past 19 years, progress in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer has been dramatic. By 1989, Dr. Alan Cartmell, who came to Bakersfield following a Medical Oncology Fellowship at Vanderbilt University, joined the practice. In 1990 expansion included growth into a 3,000 square foot office. Dr. Shane Tu joined the growing medical team in 1992, the year treatment stations and staff increased to 14 each.

1994 saw the addition of Dr. Shawn Shambaugh who had completed a fellowship in Medical Oncology and Hematology at Penn State University. That same year the first clinical trials began. Dr. Mukhopadhyay merged his existing practice with the others in 1995.

In 1996, the affiliation with UCLA Community Research Network increased our ability to offer clinical trials previously unavailable outside an academic setting to patients. It was actually in 1996 that the name “Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center” came into being. At the time the word “Comprehensive” was a bit of a misnomer, but would soon be the true description of the facility. As has always been the motivating factor for growth, the patients’ needs brought on staff the first specialist who was not a medical oncologist, Dr. Son Dinh. He came to CBCC in 1997 with a Fellowship in Pain Management from UCLA. That same year construction was well under way for the building of CBCC’s brand new 23,000 square foot cancer center.

Opening the facility in 1998 brought accuracy to the word “comprehensive”. Patients began to benefit from an organizational goal to provide every service a cancer patient might need under one roof. A full service laboratory was in place, CT scans could now be performed on site, and 35 patients at a time could receive treatment in a setting designed for their comfort and ease.

The pace of growth has continued at CBCC since moving into our facility at 6501 Truxtun Avenue. We have added physicians including Dr. David Kanamori, a Medical Oncologist and Hematologist, Dr. Ramon Vera, an Infectious Disease Specialist, Radiation Oncologists – Dr. Ajay Desai, Dr. Owen Kim, Dr. John Byfield.

We have added services that didn’t exist in 1998 including PET Scan, Radiation treatments including IMRT, Brachytherapy, and Steriotactic Radiosurgery. Other services now provided include Patient and Community Education, Genetic Counseling, Social Services, Occupational Therapy, Nutritional Counseling, Neuclear Medicine, Radiology Services including CT, PET-CT, X-ray, MRI Scans, Dexascan, Ultrasounds, Clinical laborator, Pathalogy, and Support Groups for patients and families.
In 2002, we added our first satellite facility, a radiation oncology facility known as Radiation Therapy Associates. We have also added staff, some with skills and training that were unheard of a few years ago.

 In 2007, we completed our most notable expansion to date, doubling the facility size from 35,000 sq. ft to an impressive 70,000 sq. ft. This development makes CBCC the largest free-standing cancer center on the West Coast.