Oncologist Dr. Julian Hill Retires After 4 Decades at NMMC

TUPELO, Mississippi – Through 42 years at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo, Dr. Julian Hill found rewards both as a researcher and an oncologist guiding patients through their cancer journeys.

As he retires, Dr. Hill, who is board certified in oncology and hematology, says he is proud of the way oncology services have grown at NMMC Cancer Care, and he will miss his patients and his colleagues.

“It’s a vast, collaborative effort,” Dr. Hill said. “We’re doing something as well as it’s being done anywhere in the world.”

At the beginning of his career, cancer survival was commonly measured in months. Now because of advances in screening, early diagnosis and more effective treatments, most cancer survivors can look forward to years. During his last week in the clinic at NMMC Hematology Oncology, he saw a patient he first treated 28 years ago.

Dr. Julian Hill, foreground, and his colleagues, from left, radiation therapy technologist Bill Breeding, registered nurses, Diane Brown and Martha Young, and surgeon Dr. Benton Hilbun, mark the reaccreditation of the NMMC Cancer Program in 1985. 

“As decades go by, it slowly dawns on you that things are improving,” Dr. Hill said. “The odds are so much better than they were 40, even 30 years ago.”

It’s particularly gratifying to have been part of the NMMC team that participated in research that has changed the course of cancer treatment, including the development of anti-estrogen drugs like Tamoxifen that prevent recurrence of hormone-driven breast cancer.

“Through that research, every year, thousands of deaths are prevented,” Dr. Hill said.

The oncology team in Tupelo was also part of developing early immunotherapy medications, which use the immune system to target cancer cells.

“Because of the response to these drugs, survival for advanced kidney cancer went through the roof,” Dr. Hill said. “No one ever dreamed of these treatments when I first began training in the field.”

Dr. Hill, a native of Corinth, earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Mississippi, where he met his future wife, Marian. He graduated from Tulane University School of Medicine and completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Texas-San Antonio. He completed his oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

As he finished his fellowship in 1982, Dr. Hill said he expected to practice at a large, urban academic medical center. A call from the late Dr. Charles Montgomery, who co-founded North Mississippi Hematology and Oncology with the late Dr. Spencer Schreiter, brought him to Tupelo.

In 1984, Dr. Hill used grant writing skills honed at the National Cancer Institute to help NMMC secure funding as part of a new federal clinical community oncology research program.

“It provided access to clinical trials for patients in this area,” Dr. Hill said.

The Hills have three children, Bryant Hill, Sara Alice Hill Flynn and the late Olivia Hill, and three grandchildren, Caroline, Sam and George Julian Flynn. On his first day of retirement, Dr. Hill was overseeing his grandchildren as they explored the wonders of Mississippi wildlife.

“They like to come and find the turtles,” he said.