Dr. William Jewell, surgical oncologist and the first director of the Cancer Center at Kansas University Medical Center, will be honored at a retirement celebration Friday at the Indian Hills Country Club in Mission Hills.

Jewell is credited with laying the foundation for the KU Cancer Center. According to KUMC, Jewell has been a pioneer in advancing new cancer treatments throughout his 35-year career at KU Medical Center. In the 1970s, he was one of the first surgeons in the country to study the effectiveness of lumpectomy and radiation versus the standard of care at the time, a modified radical mastectomy, according to KUMC.

Jewell also initiated the sentinel node biopsy to determine if breast cancer had spread, eliminating the need to remove dozens of lymph nodes and reducing the physical limitations that resulted from a more invasive procedure.

Jewell directed the general surgery residency program from 1978 to 1987.