NCI Renews Mayo Clinic Cancer Center Support Grant Comprehensive Cancer Center Status Also Extended

Monday, July 06, 2009

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Mayo Clinic Cancer Center (MCCC) has received an additional five years of National Cancer Institute (NCI) funding and re-designation as a comprehensive cancer center — a recognition for an institution's scientific excellence and multidisciplinary resources focused on cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

The NCI Cancer Center Support Grant award will provide more than $28 million over a period of five years, including support for cancer research personnel, shared technologies and program development at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center's Arizona campus. At Mayo Clinic in Arizona, physician and scientist investigators are working to bring the knowledge gained at the research "bench" to the "bedside" to help patients, particularly those facing breast cancer, multiple myeloma, brain cancer and pancreatic cancer.

"NCI support is the foundation for our research programs," said Rafael Fonseca, M.D., deputy director of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center and site director in Arizona. "Our designation as a comprehensive cancer center is the framework upon which we are advancing our cancer care and cancer research capabilities and our research collaborations with TGen here in Arizona. Our goal is to reduce the burden of cancer -for Arizonans and beyond."

The MCCC is headquartered at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and has research campuses in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Jacksonville, Fla. With NCI approval in 2003, the MCCC incorporated its cancer research activity at its Minnesota, Arizona and Florida sites into a single, integrated institution.

"The NCI recognized the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center for excellence in basic and clinical research, and for our contributions in cancer prevention, control and population sciences," said Robert Diasio, M.D., the center's director. "This grant is key in enabling Mayo Clinic to continue delivering outstanding care for our cancer patients."

Within its scope as a NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center, the MCCC designs and develops translational clinical studies that arise from collaborations between scientists and physicians.

The 450 scientists and physicians of the MCCC faculty across all three Mayo campuses are organized into programs that focus on 12 key cancer themes: Women's Cancers, Neuro-Oncology, Hematological (blood-borne) malignancies, Gene and Virus Therapy, Developmental Therapeutics, Genetic Epidemiology and Risk Assessment, Immunology and Immunotherapy, Gastrointestinal Cancers, Prostate Cancer, Cell Biology, Cancer Imaging and Cancer Prevention and Control.

In addition, MCCC has robust programs in cancer education — training new cancer physicians and scientists, providing continuing cancer medical education programs to hundreds of physicians, nurses and other medical personnel and conducting dozens of public education programs each year. MCCC also devotes significant resources to reducing cancer health disparities faced by racial and ethnic minorities. To that end, MCCC has established formal collaborations with Phoenix Indian Medical Center, Maricopa Integrated Health System and Mountain Park Community Health Center in Phoenix. MCCC cancer physicians work in these facilities along with their collaborator colleagues to provide more timely and robust access to care. In doing so, MCCC is also bringing cancer prevention and cancer treatment clinical trials to patients who might not otherwise have access to such.

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Mayo Clinic Cancer Center is one of only 39 U.S. medical centers that have been named as a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Comprehensive Cancer Center. To receive this designation, an institution must meet rigorous standards demonstrating scientific excellence and the ability to integrate diverse research approaches to address the problem of cancer. Mayo Clinic Cancer Center is the only national, multi-site center with the NCI's Comprehensive Cancer Center designation. In Arizona, Mayo's clinical and research experts work together to address the complex needs of cancer patients, with a dedication to understanding the biology of cancer; discovering new ways to predict, prevent, diagnose and treat cancer; and transforming the quality of life for cancer patients today and in the future.

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About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,700 physicians, scientists and researchers and 50,100 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has sites in Rochester, Minn; Jacksonville, Fla; and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. and community based providers in more than 70 locations in Southern Minn., Western Wis. and Northeast Iowa. These locations treat more than half a million people each year. To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. For information about research and education, visit www.mayo.edu. MayoClinic.com is available as a resource for your health stories.