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Our Mission
At Andrews & Patel Associates, experience, expertise and compassion are paramount to our care.
The roots of Andrews & Patel extend back to the practice of the late Herbert S. Bowman, M.D.. He grew up in Central Pennsylvania and after completing training in hematology, he returned to Harrisburg Hospital to practice. Because he was the only hematologist in the area at the time, he saw patients from a very wide geographic area. His major interests were in blood banking and hemolytic anemia and he described pyruvate-kinase deficiency anemias in the Amish. In the late 1960's Dr. Andrews and Dr. Patel came to Harrisburg to train in internal medicine and hematology. At the completion of hematology fellowship, they both eventually joined Dr. Bowman in his hospital-based practice at Harrisburg Hospital. Dr. Andrews also held the positions of Director of Medical Education and Chairman of the Department of Medicine for Harrisburg Hospital and Dr. Patel worked in the laboratories along with patient care.
At the time of Dr. Bowman's retirement, the private practice of Dr. Andrews and Dr. Patel was founded with the first office in the Brady Hall building at Harrisburg Hospital. Delores Meals, R.N., joined them as Practice Manager. On July 4, 1985 the practice was moved to the existing location on Trindle Road in Camp Hill. The office was renovated from an existing residential property with care to preserve the trees in the mature yard.
In 1991, Kathryn Peroutka, M.D. joined the practice. Rapid growth continued and it necessitated the addition of more space. Two adjacent properties were purchased and a major building project ensued with the addition of an atrium, laboratory, nurse's station and additional chemotherapy treatment areas.
In 1998, Margarita Gareis, M.D. graduated from the fellowship program and M.S. Hershey Medical Center and joined the practice. In 2000, Mary Simmonds, M.D. and Robert Gordon, M.D. both of whom had been practicing the local area joined Andrews and Patel Associates to complete the current medical staff. Dr. Gordon maintained a position as Director of Pinnacle Cancer Center until July 2006. Dr. Simmonds served as the first female President of the American Cancer Society for the United States in 2002. In 2001, Sharlene Bence, R.N. joined the practice as Office Manager in time to start planning our second office across the Susquehanna river in Harrisburg.
Late 2001, our second office was opened at the Tristan building in the Union Deposit section of Harrisburg. The building began as an empty shell which gave the opportunity to construct a facility to our liking, largely paralleling the patient flow at our Camp Hill office. We realized the need to provide care to more patients as referrals continued to grow.
In 2005, we added mid-level providers, Mona Patel, PA-C. and Amy Cleck, C.R.N.P. and Lori Francis, PA-C. completed our clinical care team in 2006. They provide coverage in the office sites and local hospitals to keep our standard of care at the highest level and appointment availability timely.
In July 2006, Sharlene moved to our West Shore location as Office Manager and Nicole Rode, R.N. assumed the position of Office Manager at the Harrisburg location.
As of late 2006, we offered 27 chemotherapy chairs and once again, were at a point of growth that required expansion. We were fortunate to be able to purchase an adjacent property at the Camp Hill office and expansion of the existing West Shore loction began.
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