The Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center is the only NCI–designated
comprehensive cancer center in the nation’s capital. Since it was
established in December 1970, Georgetown University has maintained a high
level of commitment to the success of the Cancer Center. Lombardi is a
matrix center represented by 200 members, participating in six research
programs with 13 shared resources, working primarily in five adjacent
buildings within the Georgetown University Medical Center.
The research programs are as follows:
- Breast Cancer;
- Cancer Control;
- Cancer Genetics and Epidemiology;
- Growth Regulation of Cancer;
- Molecular Targets and Developmental Therapeutics; and
- Radiation Biology and DNA Repair.
Shared resources include:
- Animal;
- Biacore and Molecular Interactions;
- Biostatistics and Bioinformatics;
- Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology;
- Clinical Research Management Office;
- Familial Cancer Registry;
- Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting;
- Histopathology and Tissue;
- Macromolecular Analysis;
- Microscopy and Imaging;
- Proteomics & Metabolomics;
- Tissue Culture; and
- Transgenics.
Peer–reviewed research funding for 2007 totals $70.0 million
and total NCI funding is $36.0 million. In 2000, Georgetown University
Hospital became part of MedStar Health, a non–profit network of
seven regional hospitals, which together see more than 7000 new cancer
patients annually. The Lombardi MedStar Research Network has been a great
success, both with increased accrual to clinical trials and increased
Cancer Center membership. In 2007, over 200 patients were accrued to
therapeutic trials.
Louis M. Weiner, MD, was named the permanent director of the
Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University in October
2007. An internationally recognized medical oncologist specializing in
the treatment in gastrointestinal cancers, Dr. Weiner is also an
accomplished researcher developing novel immunotherapy treatments in
his laboratory. His work focuses on new therapeutic approaches that
mobilize the patient’s immune system to fight cancer using monoclonal
antibodies—laboratory–crafted proteins designed to recognize
specific cancer cells. His laboratory designs and produces new
antibody–based proteins with the aim of improving their
tumor–targeting and immune–stimulating properties.
Board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology by the
American Board of Internal Medicine, Dr. Weiner has published more than
150 scientific papers and lectures extensively on targeted therapies for cancer.
Dr. Weiner serves as the fourth director of the Lombardi Comprehensive
Cancer Center. The center was founded at Georgetown University in honor
of all–star football coach Vincent T. Lombardi in 1971 by
John F. Potter, MD, a member of Vince Lombardi’s oncology team.
In 1974, in conjunction with Howard University, Lombardi Cancer Center
became the 16th National Cancer Institute–designated Comprehensive
Cancer Center. The designation was renewed for Lombardi as a
single–site center in 1990 and has been maintained since that time.
|
