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Dwight L. McKee, M.D.
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 Dr. McKee received his M.D. degree in 1975. He practiced complementary medicine with an emphasis in nutritional and body/mind medicine for 12 years prior to re-entering training in 1988 to complete a three-year residency in internal medicine. This was followed by three years of subspecialty training in hematology and oncology and two years of immunology research at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla.
He brings a comprehensive perspective to the practice of oncology and hematology and is at the forefront of the application of what Dr. Andrew Weil has termed “integrative medicine” to the field of cancer care. Integrative medicine refers to the combining of conventional Western medicine with other modalities such as nutrition, herbs, body/mind medicine, acupuncture and other modalities of complementary medicine.
Because of the scarcity of practitioners with expertise in oncology as well as in complementary medicine, Dr. McKee has been consulting with cancer patients by telephone for many years. These are based on review of medical records which optimally include pathology reports from biopsies and surgeries, operative reports from all cancer surgeries, radiology reports of all recent x-rays and scans, recent blood tests including tumor markers, if available, and treatment summaries of any past chemotherapy and/or radiation. It is also helpful to have the patient’s age, general state of health, family history of cancer, past medical history, current medications, dietary history and any food supplements or herbs currently being used. A list of any complementary medicine techniques that are being utilized such as imagery, meditation, acupuncture or homeopathy is also important.
Dr. McKee’s consultations involve a broad range of areas including attitudinal counseling, with emphasis on the relationship between particular psychological states and immune function, review of a large spectrum of treatment options, both alternative/complementary, conventional and clinical trials and what is known about the results from these therapies, as well as his opinions and experience regarding how best to interface complementary therapies with conventional oncology therapies.
Dr. McKee has been developing a four-phase comprehensive cancer treatment strategy over the last few years with his practice and research partner, Michael G. Goodman, M.D. Dr. Goodman was a research immunologist at the Scripps Research Institute for 17 years prior to training in oncology.
The first phase involves maximal reduction of tumor cell load in the body, using techniques that cause the least amount of damage or suppression to the immune system. The second phase is rebuilding and repairing the immune function. The third phase is nonspecific immune stimulation with an emphasis towards the cell mediated branch of the immune system. The fourth is immune education for specific and durable antitumor response (this final phase involves some form of cancer vaccine therapy). There is also an emphasis placed on obtaining tumor tissue for laboratory testing of the sensitivity of each individual’s cancer cells to the available anticancer drugs and the available immune stimulants and using this information to guide therapy.
Other techniques that can be utilized include expansion of lymphocytes obtained from tumor surgery for later use in immunotherapy and growth of specialized immune cells, called dendritic cells, to be programmed specifically with antigens from the patient’s tumor and then reinfused at a time when the immune system is functioning at a high level. Dr. McKee also collaborates with surgeons in Los Angeles who specialize in innovative approaches to tumor cell destruction, including freezing (cryosurgery) and destruction by heat (radiofrequency hyperthermic tumor ablation) and often refers patients for such procedures when possible. When followed by potent immune stimulation (based on testing samples of the patient’s tumors with a variety of immune stimulants in the laboratory), there is the possibility of creating an “in vivo vaccine” effect. Clinical trials are also planned
of new immunostimulants derived from Dr. Goodman’s research career at the Scripps Research Institute.
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