Dr. James Wade is a practicing medical oncologist/ hematologist whose thirty-nine year career in Central Illinois has included patient care, clinical research, patient advocacy and national leadership.  From his start as a solo specialty practitioner in 1984, Dr. Wade has helped guide the growth and development of Cancer Care Specialists of Illinois (CCSI), a twenty-two physician integrated interdisciplinary network of four Cancer Centers and twenty-five satellite clinics that provides state of the art care and cutting edge clinical trials throughout central and Southern Illinois.  CCSI has received the ASCO QOPI Certification for Clinical Excellence for more than 10 years, and has also been awarded the Clinical Trials Participation Award twice as well as the Conquer Cancer Award for its research initiatives. 

Dr. Wade has advocated for the patient through his leadership in the Illinois Medical Oncology Society (IMOS) as one of its founders and first president as well as through his work with the Association of Community Cancer Centers where he also served as president.  His work with the American Society of Clinical Oncology helped lead to passage of the Rockefeller-Levin Bill in 1993 which protected Seniors from arbitrary denials of appropriate cancer treatment.  In partnership with the Illinois Division of the American Cancer Society, he and IMOS advocated to the Illinois State Legislature for access to cancer clinical trials, leading to the passage of the HB 1191 helping prevent arbitrary denial of clinical costs associated with participation in a cancer clinical trial.  In 2020 Dr. Wade Chaired the ASCO Prior Therapies Subcommittee as part of the modernization program to broaden clinical trial eligibility.  This 1 year process culminated in the 2021 joint ASCO and Friends of Cancer publication in Clinical Cancer Research new eligibility criteria that were also endorsed by the NCI and the FDA which reduced barriers and broadened access for more patients to participate in cancer clinical trials

Dr. Wade has been an active clinical scientist with leadership roles in the Southwest Oncology Group, the NSABP, and the NRG Oncology research base.  He has been a principal investigator of several NCI sponsored cancer clinical trials, Co-Chair of the SWOG Symptom and Quality of Life Committee, a member of the Board of SWOG, NSABP and NRG, and a member of the NCI Implementation Committee which helped streamline the national cancer clinical trials process.  In Central Illinois he, in partnership with Decatur Memorial Hospital and Memorial Medical Center helped launch the Central Illinois CCOP in 1987.  This very successful program grew and evolved to become the Heartland Cancer Research NCORP, one of the most successful community cancer research programs in the United States. 

Dr. Wade had served on several NCI committees, and he was chosen to chair the first NCI CIRB from 2003-2004.  As a reflection of his experience and leadership in community research, he was appointed to serve on the NCI’s Clinical Trials Advisory Committee (CTAC).  Recognized for his success in helping launch the first CIRB, Dr. Wade was later asked to chair the new Symptom and Quality of Life NCI IRB, which he led from 2014-2019.  As an acknowledgement of his numerous contributions to both cancer research and cancer patient advocacy in 2022 he was inducted as a Fellow if the Association of Community Cancer Centers.

Throughout his career, Dr. Wade has recognized the positive impact he experienced from many of his mentors during residency and fellowship.  He has strove to give back to the profession through teaching, and for eighteen years he has been a member of the faculty of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University where he has received numerous awards and accolades.