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NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE REAFFIRMS UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CANCER CENTER STATUS, INCREASES FUNDING

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has named the Cancer Center at the University of Virginia as one of 13 clinical centers in the U.S. Along with the designation, the Cancer Center will receive close to $9 million in funding over the next five years.

The renewal of this designation and the significant increase in funding are an endorsement of the work that went to developing the Cancer Center. We recruited new researchers and clinicians, created illness-specific, multidisciplinary teams, and obtained funding for key research projects. It is gratifying to have NCI recognize this effort, said Dr. Robert M. Carey, dean of the School of Medicine.

The application for renewal included six programs, five laboratory based and one clinical program. The laboratory programs represent investigational disciplines that seek to address fundamental questions in cancer cell and molecular biology. The clinical program focuses on the continued establishment of multidisciplinary teams focused on a single cancer.

We are striving for a cancer center where medicine and science merge, and new research directly influences patient care. We think these efforts stood out to NCI reviewers, said Dr. Charles E. Myers, director of the U.Va. Cancer Center. In the area of basic science, our researchers are studying how cancer cells grow and spread. The outcome of this research should quickly impact cancer treatment. We are also working to develop cancer vaccines in several areas and investigating the use of viruses to treat certain cancers.

The U.Va. Cancer Center currently includes 172 investigators supported by more than $62 million in outside funding, representing a 60 percent increase in funding over the past four years. The Cancer Center was ranked 12th in the 1999 U.S. News and World Report hospital rankings.

The Cancer Centers Program of the NCI supports major academic and research institutions throughout the United States to sustain broad-based, coordinated, interdisciplinary programs in cancer research. According to NCI, These institutions are characterized by scientific excellence and capability to integrate a diversity of research approaches to focus on the problem of cancer. The NCI and its Cancer Centers Program are dedicated to the advancement of cancer research to ultimately reduce cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality.

U.Va. Cancer Center: Changing the Future of Cancer Care (backgrounder)

September 27, 1999