While he may have dreamed of one day running plays in the National Football League, Joseph Fouche, MD is formulating plays of a different sort these days. As a hematologist/oncologist at the Alice and Carl Kirkland Cancer Center, the burly former football player from Tulane with the heart of a teddy bear is devising a game plan to help patients beat cancer.
Although he is a native Jacksonian, Fouche hails from one farther south than the one he chose to practice medicine in and one that is closer to his Louisiana roots, Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from Callaway High School, Fouche capitalized on his success on the gridiron to pay for his college education by earning a scholarship to Tulane University in New Orleans.
While Fouche realized his football career would not extend beyond college, he was not sure what career he would pursue. In his sophomore year, a friend suggested a genetics class, which led to his discovering a desire to be a physician. “I was mainly more focused on life, not really what I would pursue in a career,” said Fouche. “My genetics teacher, Dr. Joan Bennett, told me a story about a football player who went on to become a doctor. She really took an interest in me as well as where I was headed. I had a couple of uncles who were surgeons but I had not considered medicine until then. Dr. Bennett started mentoring me and helped me get a volunteer position in a hospital and really encouraged me to pursue medicine.”
After graduating from Tulane, Fouche earned his medical degree in 2008 from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. He initially thought surgery would be the route he would take but then switched to cardiology. While interning, he met another influential mentor who encouraged him to look at oncology. “I signed up for a rotation and realized she was right,” said Fouche. “It was the perfect fit for my personality. I think of all the specialties, oncologists have the most compassion. We have a relationship with our patients unlike no other that allows you to become very close to them and their family. A cancer diagnosis is a scary thing and while the dying process can be a factor, cancer is more about life than death. Working with cancer patients really changed my perspective to focusing on life because that is what is in front of us each day.”
Fouche returned to New Orleans to complete his Internal Medicine residency at Tulane University School of Medicine in 2011 followed by a three-year Hematology/Oncology fellowship. Tulane’s program is one of the top hematology programs in the country and it gave Fouche exposure to a wide range of patients. “Because New Orleans is rich with different cultures, it afforded me the opportunity to treat a wide range of cancers and blood disorders,” he said. “I also learned to be a better clinician there. I came one year after Hurricane Katrina and the impact that had on the resources available really made me learn to use my intuition as well as be creative in treatment options for patients.”
Fouche says the lifestyle of those living in New Orleans is one element that makes the people there different and is something that cannot be duplicated anywhere. “The area is so underserved and there is a day-to-day struggle just to get the basic necessities of life. Healthcare gets put on the back burner. It does cause issues with cancer care and Katrina certainly has had an impact on that,” he said. “Resources are being diverted to other places so there are funding issues for insurance and care that are even worse than other places. Subsequent to that, cancer care is lagging behind a little and while some may say it wasn’t an ideal place to start my training, it just meant I learned to be more creative to make sure they got the care they needed.”
In his second year of his fellowship, Fouche heard of a position in Jackson, Tennessee with the Alice and Carl Kirkland Cancer Center. Although he did not know much about the area, he did have family in Memphis and his wife, Sophia, had family in Nashville, so he thought he would look into it. What he found in Jackson blew him away. Even with other offers on the table, he knew this was where he wanted to practice and just needed to convince Sophia that life in a smaller town was the right choice. In August of 2014, he joined the staff of the Kirkland Cancer Center.
“I had interviewed some other places but I really wanted liked the medical community, the staff here as well as the slower pace of Jackson. The patient centered approach here meant I would have more time with patients to plan their course of treatment. That was not something my other options offered,” said Fouche, who is Board Certified in Hematology and Oncology. “I think it is important to have time to spend with the patient in order to better determine their goals as well as what the best course of treatment is. Developing a relationship with them and their families helps to make their care that much more personal.”
The biggest change for Fouche and his wife, who is expecting their first child in September, has been the food. “I think New Orleans has the best food in the world. But we have made it our goal to try every restaurant in the area,” he said. “The trade-off is getting to work with and care for some of the best people. The sense of camaraderie among all the clinicians is also a huge bonus.”
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