Upon your initial introduction to Dr. Marty Lucas, you may notice that she carries a unique characteristic: a subtle southern inflection in the tone of her voice, so subtle, in fact, that you may not even notice it during your first interaction with her. However, while her accent may go unnoticed, her sincere passion for the service she provides and for the patients she treats is distinct and unmistakable, and we are grateful that Dr. Lucas has decided to bring her intense desire to help others to Sheridan Memorial Hospital’s Welch Cancer Center.
But Dr. Lucas didn’t develop her southern accent from living in Billings for 20 years. She was born and raised in the bustling city of Chattanooga, TN where she spent all of her early life before traveling to Knoxville to further her education at the University of Tennessee.
Dr. Lucas initially went to UT in hopes of becoming a nurse, and although she succeeded in doing so, she soon felt a desire to dive deeper into the medical field. “My father was a physician, and I just felt like that was the logical step for me to take in my life,” she explained. And so she decided to return to UT where she would soon find her passion for hematology. She recalled, “I had a mentor in Med School, who was probably the smartest lady I ever knew, who could just look at a blood smear under a microscope and almost immediately have a diagnosis for her patient, and she was the one who really led me into hematology.”
Soon after completing all of her schooling, including her residency, at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Dr. Lucas began to practice as a hematologist. And although she has always enjoyed the science of hematology, she soon realized that there was nothing she loved more than the relationships she built and the lives she touched.
She expressed, “The best part of being a hematologist is getting to know the people and their families. None of the diagnoses we deal with are very easy diagnoses. Having the honor of walking these people and their families through these tough times, having the honor to be a part of their family, and to be able to help them through the good and the bad has to be my favorite part of practicing hematology.”
Dr. Lucas has come a long way from her early days in Memphis, she now has over 35 years of experience as a hematologist, and has practiced in both Tennessee and Billings. She anticipates a more relaxed pace here in Sheridan. “I look forward to the slower pace that comes with working in a small town community because it means that I get to have more one-on-one time with each patient and I can add more of a personal touch to the service I provide. It’s the main reason I believed that Sheridan Memorial Hospital was the right place for me.”
Dr. Lucas is a lover of the outdoors, with her hobbies including hiking, camping, horseback riding, dog walking, and doing “just about anything outdoors,” as she put it. And considering Sheridan is on the doorstep of the Big Horn Mountains, it wouldn’t be surprising if Dr. Lucas had more than one reason to choose Sheridan Memorial Hospital as the next stop in her life’s journey.
We are excited to welcome Dr. Marty Lucas to our team here at Sheridan Memorial Hospital and we look forward to seeing her passion for hematology and dedication to her patients at work here in our community.
To learn more about the Cancer Care team, based out of the Welch Cancer Center, go to www.sheridanhospital.org/medical-services/cancer-care/