Dr. Kurt Tauer, MD

Expert Publications

• For love of the profession. Kurt W. Tauer--Physician Executive of the Year Award.

Media Releases

Get to know Hematologist-Oncologist Dr. Kurt Tauer, who serves patients throughout the State of Tennessee. 

Dr. Tauer is Chairman of West Cancer Center & Research Institute, bringing 35 years of experience and success to lead the clinic into the next decade of regional growth. 

Along with Drs. William H. West and Lee Schwartzberg, Dr. Tauer was one of the original founding partners of West Clinic – joining the small oncology practice in 1985 following the completion of his fellowship in New York. 

His commitment to serving the entire community, regardless of their ability to pay, has been the foundation of West Cancer Center’s growing Community Outreach Program – a program that seeks to encourage education, prevention, and early detection among the most impoverished and underserved in the Memphis area. 

His hospital affiliations extend to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Collierville, Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto, Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis, Baptist Memorial Restorative Care Hospital, Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women, Saint Francis Hospital-Memphis, and Saint Francis Hospital-Bartlett. 

Born and raised in the city of Lebanon, Indiana, Dr. Tauer graduated with his Medical Degree from Saint Louis University School of Medicine in 1980. He then went on to perform his residency in internal medicine at Baptist Memorial Hospital, followed by his fellowship in medical oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology, Dr. Tauer is recognized as a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM). The ABIM is a physician-led, non-profit, independent evaluation organization driven by doctors who want to achieve higher standards for better care in a rapidly changing world.

A renowned expert in the study and treatment of lung, breast, prostate, colon and melanoma cancers, Dr. Tauer has served on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Panel for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. 

In addition to being a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, he is a member of both the Memphis Medical Society and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. 

Hematology is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. A hematologist-oncologist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of blood diseases and cancers such as iron-deficiency anemia, hemophilia, sickle-cell disease, leukemia, and lymphoma.

On a more personal note, Dr. Tauer and his wife, Anita, have five children and six grandchildren.

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