Leaving a Legacy: MUSC, Hollings Cancer Center doctor to retire after 36 years

August 16, 2019
Joseph “Buddy” Jenrette
After 36 years as a radiation oncologist, Dr. Joseph Jenrette is retiring. Photo by Brennan Wesley

When Joseph “Buddy” Jenrette, M.D., moved to Charleston in 1973 with hopes of getting into medical school, he didn’t expect to stay so long. On Aug. 31, he will retire from the only career he has known – 36 years as a radiation oncologist at Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina.

“A little scared, a little excited,” MUSC Health’s chair of radiation oncology says of his imminent retirement. “It's like a codependency – I've been here so long, I can't imagine not waking up and coming to MUSC.”

His peers feel the same way. When nominating him for the Distinguished Faculty Service Award in 2015, they applauded his accomplished career and recognized him as one of the best radiation oncologists in the state.

David Marshall, M.D., medical director of Hollings Cancer Center’s Clinical Trials Office, highlighted some of Jenrette’s accomplishments.

"Dr. Jenrette is the face of radiation oncology at MUSC, and he has had a significant impact on the field that extends far beyond our institution,” Marshall says. “He has a history of bringing a number of "firsts" to MUSC and to patients in the state of South Carolina.”

Some of those firsts, Marshall says, include:

  • Developing the first stereotactic radiosurgery program in South Carolina.

  • Performing the first total body irradiation treatment in the state.

  • Treating the first woman with partial breast irradiation in South Carolina.

  • Executing the first radioactive implant as treatment for a brain tumor in the state.

  • Being a part of a team of MUSC doctors who established the first long-term pediatric cancer survivor clinic in South Carolina and the first multidisciplinary Thoracic Tumor Board at MUSC.

Jenrette also played a vital role in the formation of Hollings Cancer Center. In the mid 1980s, he realized the need for a multi-disciplinary cancer center and worked closely with other MUSC doctors to form new tumor boards.

“We wanted the best for the state because we had really high incidences of cancer morbidity and mortality,” he says. “There were unserved populations, especially out in the islands, where people just did not have access to health care, and especially modern cancer care.”

Back then, the cancer center was just a small clinical office with exam rooms shared by different doctors, he says, explaining that Hollings Cancer Center was founded in 1993 with the help and support of its namesake, Sen. Ernest F. Hollings. Today, the cancer center encompasses the seven-story Hollings building, and in 2009, it received the highest accreditation that a cancer center can receive – National Cancer Institute designation.

“The NCI designation gives a lot of recognition for all the hard work, research and clinical care that had been done,” Jenrette says. “The goal would be to get every patient, if possible, into a clinical trial, so that we can take the learning to higher levels and make it accessible throughout the state.”

A Transformative Career

In his three decades at MUSC, he has seen not only the university, but the field of radiation oncology change drastically, calling it “night and day” compared to what it once was.

“The equipment back when I first came to the department in the late 1970s as a medical student was very crude compared to today,” he says. “But at the time, it seemed so high-tech and amazing.”

Upon graduating from medical school at MUSC, he was offered a position as a resident in radiation oncology, later moving up to chief resident. The end of his residency included a pleasant surprise – a position on faculty, where he has served since 1983.

In 1986, Jenrette set out to transform the department’s technology. He and a colleague flew to McGill University in Montreal, Canada, to visit a physicist who had written a precedent-setting paper detailing how to adapt a linear accelerator, the radiation equipment used at MUSC, to perform stereotactic radiosurgery, a nonsurgical radiation therapy to treat brain tumors and abnormalities. The purpose of the visit was to determine firsthand if they could design a specially modified version of the equipment to suit MUSC’s needs.

“We basically built it from scratch,” Jenrette says. “We had to build these special cones that could make these very small openings for the radiation to come out and had to adapt the equipment so that we could rotate around the patient's head.”

On a shelf in his office, Jenrette has a miniature museum composed of the original models of the homemade radiosurgery machine that he designed and built.

“We were one of the first places in this part of the country to do stereotactic radiosurgery,” he says. “It was amazing when we first did our first case around 1990.” MUSC used the stereotactic radiosurgery program until 1995.

Jenrette has been instrumental in opening and co-directing the latest radiation technology program at MUSC. In 2010, the gamma knife program, a specialized radiation system used to treat brain tumors with one large pinpointed dose, replaced Brainlab. Jenrette helped to push for changes in state regulations to allow MUSC to get the new system, he says.

The push was worth the effort.

"We knocked it out of the ballpark the first year. We'd never treated more than 30 or 40 patients a year, and the first year, we treated about 125,” he says. “Now, we treat right around 300 cases a year and are one of the busiest programs in the country.”

MUSC’s Gamma Knife program iis in the top 10% in the country in terms of the frequency of use and celebrated its 2,000th patient in late 2018.

Fulfilling Retirement

Jenrette jokes about an old billboard that used to live on Interstate 95 that read, “Visit Charleston – America’s best kept secret.” That secret is obviously out, he says.

“We used to say, ‘Well, MUSC is the best kept secret,’” he laughs. “And that secret is out now, too.”

Over the years, Jenrette has watched MUSC and Hollings Cancer Center grow, in talent and in stature.

“When I first moved here, you could drive across the Cooper River Bridge, and MUSC barely made a showing on the skyline,” he recalls. “Now it dominates the Charleston skyline to a large extent. Being a part of that growth of the cancer center and MUSC has been incredible.”

But for Jenrette, his decades-long career has revolved less around the professional accomplishments than it has around the relationships he has built with his patients and colleagues, some of which span more than 30 years.

“These are people who I spend more time with than with my own family,” he laughs. “We think of ourselves as being pretty much a family.”

Sylvia Pratt, department administrator of radiation oncology, agrees. Pratt feels grateful to have worked side by side with Jenrette for 35 years, she says. His retirement is a farewell to their working relationship, but their friendship will be lifelong.

“Dr. Jenrette has been an important part of my life, not only as a wonderful boss but as a very dear friend,” she says. “We have seen our children grow from babies to successful adults. We have welcomed grandchildren, and we have experienced the loss of loved ones.”

Jenrette says that the people he’s worked with are what have made his career so fulfilling.

In his retirement, he has a few major goals he hopes to accomplish: not waking up to an alarm clock, visiting his grandchildren, spending time with his wife and taking strolls on the beach. Jenrette also plans to volunteer around Charleston, help run his late uncle’s foundation that focuses on historic homes in locations ranging from South Carolina to the Virgin Islands and maybe even take courses at the College of Charleston for fun.

While he’s ready to retire, saying goodbye has been bittersweet. However, it won’t quite be a complete goodbye – Jenrette can see MUSC from his house. Patients and colleagues may run into him on the morning walks he plans to take through campus.

“It's been my life for the longest time,” he says. “It's been a great career for me, working with the people that I have and helping build programs. This has been really remarkably nice.”