The University of Chicago Research Center (UCCRC), founded
in 1973 and with continuous status as a NCI-designated Cancer Center,
has a long tradition of excellence in clinical and basic science cancer
research, training, and cancer care. Its mission is the discovery of
new information to understand more completely the determinants of cancer,
to develop cures for cancer, and to prevent cancer. Our programs emphasize
interdisciplinary and translational research to move laboratory findings
to the next generation of therapies and potential cures. The University
of Chicago, situated on the Southside of Chicago, also has a strong reputation
for providing care to minorities and the poor. Each year the hospital
serves more than 550,000 outpatients and 25,000 inpatients, more than
60% of whom are from its surrounding communities, some of the city’s
most impoverished neighborhoods. This emphasis on health disparities
and the underserved is also emphasized in both clinical and basic research
programs.
The UCCRC has approximately 190 members who belong
to one of 6 established and one developing, scientific
programs: Cell Signaling and Gene Regulation, Molecular Genetics and
Hematopoiesis,
Immunology and Cancer, Clinical and Experimental
Therapeutics, Advanced Imaging, Clinical Cancer Genetics and Prevention,
and Cancer and the
Social Sciences (developing program). The UCCRC is
a leader in the development of novel agents and treatment strategies
(organ preservation, transplantation,
and treatment intensification), and pharmacogenomics
with major research strengths in lung, head and neck, breast, and prostate
cancer, leukemia,
and cancer genetics. The University is the host institution
for the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) clinical cooperative group
and the Pharmacogenetics
of Anticancer Agents Research Group (PAAR) and holds
both a Phase I grant and a Phase II contract from the NCI supporting
clinical trials. These
efforts translate into approximately 1200 patients
being enrolled on over 200 protocols annually. The UCCRC also works closely
with Argonne
National Laboratory (ANL), which has recently developed
a Structural Biology Center built around the nation’s most advanced
photon source. Recently the UCCRC was one of eight organizations to be
awarded a Center
for Interdisciplinary Health Disparities Research
grant, which pursues health disparities research in Chicago and West
Africa that analyzes
differences in cancer incidence, severity, and development
across various social and ethnic groups. This research program complements
the work
of the Cancer Risk Clinic, which offers comprehensive
risk assessment to people in the community.
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