A Springdale-based cancer center has quietly expanded its clinical-trial program, growing its research program from roughly 70 trials to nearly 150 over six years while opening a new $4 million trials suite built to handle the surge. Highlands Oncology Group, based in Springdale, Arkansas, now employs 60 full-time researchers and occupies nearly an entire floor of its new $30 million Springdale facility.
The expansion reflects a broader push by the independent, physician-owned practice to bring advanced drug trials and experimental treatments for patients with advanced cancer directly to Northwest Arkansas, according to Talk Business & Politics. The outlet reports the group increased its research staff by nearly 42% over five years and now lists 122 clinical trials on its website, spanning cancers from multiple myeloma to colorectal disease. Highlands Oncology says on its own site that it has been actively involved in clinical research for more than 26 years, and describes itself as the only community-based Phase I oncology clinical trial center in Arkansas, offering patients access to Phase I through Phase III therapies without leaving the region.
A Physician With 17 Years in the Region
Dr. Eric Schaefer, who specializes in lung and thoracic cancers, has worked in Northwest Arkansas for 17 years, per the same Talk Business & Politics report. Schaefer has said his father advised him early on to seek out an integrated physician group committed to research — advice that shaped his path to Highlands Oncology. He has treated patients with some of the most severe diagnoses the practice sees, including a woman diagnosed in her 30s with stage four lung cancer that had spread to her brain.
That patient, according to the report, has since seen her daughters move into high school and college. Schaefer started her on immunotherapy in 2016 after chemotherapy and a clinical trial caused setbacks, the outlet notes. He has pointed to shifting survival timelines across his specialty: some lung cancer patients now live three to four years, he said, compared with an earlier hoped-for average of 14 months, and some myeloma patients have life expectancies of 10 to 15 years versus roughly five years before newer therapies arrived.
Trials Spanning Breast, Prostate and Blood Cancers
The scale of the research effort is reflected in trial counts across disease types, per Talk Business & Politics: 29 trials for metastatic breast cancer, 19 for non-small cell lung cancer, eight each for multiple myeloma and prostate cancer, six for colorectal cancers, five for small cell lung cancer, and two for ovarian cancer. Highlands Oncology works closely with MD Anderson, sharing patients for clinical trials, and maintains contacts with MD Anderson in Houston and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the report states. Schaefer has said patients from Europe and across the United States travel to the practice for trials, and the group belongs to two national alliances that provide access to treatment protocols.
Dr. Thad Beck, interim CEO and a founding member of Highlands Oncology, has represented the group at a medical conference in Spain, according to the same report. On the company's website, Beck is credited with overseeing over 140 active clinical trials, 30 providers, and over 50 clinical trials staff at any given time. The practice says patient participation in its trials is nearly doubling compared with the previous year, a pace reflected in the roughly 250 active treatment patients enrolled in trials at the end of 2025.
New Drug Targets a Pancreatic Cancer Mutation
Among the newer options available to patients is an oral drug approved in August that serves as an alternative to chemotherapy, killing cancer cells by turning off a mutation and preventing cell growth, Talk Business & Politics reports. The drug targets a KRAS mutation found in pancreatic cancers. Schaefer has also pointed to improved control of nausea and other side effects now possible with drug infusions, and to new bi-specific therapies or CAR T treatment, which uses a patient's own T cells or immune system to fight cancer.
Better screening remains an open need, according to Schaefer, who has said more effective detection is needed for ovarian, head and neck, and other cancers. A future screening method remains undetermined, though potential approaches discussed include a blood test, teardrop, or nasal swab testing DNA or another factor, per the report.
Imaging Costs and a Planned Rogers Expansion
Highlands Oncology offers imaging services including MRI scans, and non-patients can use those services with a doctor's order, the outlet reports. CT scans at the practice cost $800, compared with around $4,000 at most hospitals, according to Talk Business & Politics. The group says it works with patients concerned about treatment costs — a concern underscored by broader research into the financial strain of cancer care. Up to 3% of people are reportedly bankrupted by cancer treatment costs, per the report, while a National Cancer Institute review has noted that cancer survivors were reported to be 2.7 times more likely to file for bankruptcy than people without a cancer history.
The practice's growth is set to continue well beyond Springdale. Highlands Oncology recently invested about $4 million in an expanded, approximately 12,100-square-foot Clinical Trials Suite at its flagship Springdale center, according to Talk Business & Politics' earlier coverage. That suite includes five exam rooms, a procedure room, a laboratory, infusion capabilities and a research pharmacy. The group's program now supports about 150 active clinical trials and more than 60 full-time research staff.
Separately, Highlands Oncology broke ground on a five-story, 125,000-square-foot cancer-care center in Rogers' Pinnacle Hills area, slated to open in the third quarter of 2028 as the company's seventh Arkansas location, the outlet previously reported. The practice, founded in 1996, has grown its physician headcount from 16 to more than 30 over seven years, and paid $13.6 million for about 51 acres along Interstate 49 in Rogers in August 2023 to support the expansion. Highlands Oncology also plans to hire a nuclear medicine oncologist in the coming months, according to the most recent Talk Business & Politics report, as Schaefer maintains that he believes the best care occurs at home, close to family, rather than far from it — a philosophy tied to the practice's stated mission of making quality care available close to home.
