SEPTEMBER 2020 PARKER COUNTY TODAY
our doctors: THE CENTER
22
New Warriors Added In The
War On Cancer
Making A Difference —Two doctors added to the
staff at The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders
By MARSHA BROWN and MELISSA MOORMAN
Dr. Talha Riaz, MD, Dr. Ray Page, Dr. Aaron Laine
Photos by STEVE SCHILLIO
The Center for Cancer and Blood
Disorders now has two additional
doctors to help their patients battle
cancer.
The doctors were introduced by
Dr. Page who said, “I love having
bright, young minds. They keep me
sharp.”
Dr. Page is the president of
The Center for Cancer and Blood
Disorders. “To throw out challenging
cases and hear what they would
do just keeps raising the bar,” he
continued. As president, he and his
colleagues have created the most
comprehensive community cancer
care in the North Texas region, ensuring
the patient’s journey includes
integrated access to all components
of the continuum of cancer care.
“We can’t wait for the community
to get to know these guys,” Dr. Page
said.
Dr. Aaron Laine, MD, PhD
Dr. Aaron Laine, MD, PhD,
provides comprehensive radiation
oncology treatment to his patients.
He is interested in genitourinary
malignancies, particularly prostate
and renal cell cancer. Prostate cancer
affects the majority of men at some
point during their life. He has had
personal experience with several
members of his family being diagnosed
with prostate cancer.
Dr. Laine is trained in Stereotactic
Body Radiation Therapy,
Cyberknife, Gamma Knife, True
Beam, Vital Beam, Triology, Versa,
Tomo Therapy, Vero, HDR, Prostate
LDR, Space OAR, Pinnacle, Multiplan,
Eclipse, Aria, Velocity, and
Vision RT for Deep Inspiratory Breath
Hold, Heavy–ion Radiotherapy, and
Carbon-ion Radiotherapy.
In his whole-person approach, Dr.
Laine takes time with each patient
and works closely with a team of
medical oncologists, surgeons,
nurses, dieticians, patient navigators,
and other support staff to ensure that
each individual receives a customized
treatment plan. He will utilize
the latest anti-cancer agents, including
chemotherapies, immunotherapy,
targeted therapy and clinical trials,
which allow him to create up-to-date
treatment plans that focus on each
patient’s personalized needs and
nurture their recovery.
Dr. Laine earned his Bachelor of
Science in Chemistry at Arizona State
University in Tempe, Arizona. He
earned his M.D. and was awarded his
PhD in Biomedical Science at Mount
Sinai School of Medicine, New York,
New York. He completed his internal
medicine internship at Mount Sinai
Hospital, New York, NY. Dr. Laine
had a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at
the prestigious Tokyo Metropolitan
Institute for Medical Science, Tokyo,
Japan studying protein regulation. He
received his medical training in radiation
oncology at UT Southwestern
Medical Center in Dallas where he
was chief resident. While training at
UT Southwestern, he got to know the
Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“I came across the opportunity to
come here while I was working in
Phoenix. After visiting and seeing the
center and meeting the physicians I
saw that it was a high-quality cancer
center in a really great community so
I liked the mixture of that,” he said.
“I had always intended to pursue
a career in oncology due to experiences
I had helping family members
dealing with cancer. While in medical
school, I learned more about
the field of radiation oncology. The
need to select the optimal treatments
for each patient and the technical
expertise and critical thinking
required to evaluate different treatment
approaches spurred my interest.
For me, radiation oncology was a
perfect mix of high-tech, patient care
and being able to make an immediate
difference in people’s lives,” he
explained. “I find the most satisfaction
in being able to help patients
better understand their treatment
options and really try and make sure
they feel comfortable with the treatment
that they pursue. I think it’s
important to treat this as a team effort
and address all of the care and needs
of the patient, (to) make it as easy as
possible as they go along,” he continued.
Dr. Laine is married with a 4-yearold
son named Robert and his wife,
Ruri, who is originally from Japan.
They met through friends during his
year of research in Tokyo. When
he’s not providing his patients with
excellent care, he and his wife enjoy
traveling and learning about new
cultures, something that has been
put on hold during the pandemic.
However, they still have a trip to Italy
with their young son on their list.
An experience with his grandmother
helped shape his future
career.
“My grandmother was diagnosed
with cancer and seeing the journey
she had and the great physicians
she had to help her through that is
where I really saw that it was what I
wanted to do. My grandmother ultimately
passed away from late-stage
leukemia, but she was able to be
comfortable and at home with her
family in a loving environment at the
end. The support that she had was
really something that struck me at the
time and helped shape my path going
SEPTEMBER 2020 PARKER COUNTY TODAY
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