Cancer Center Director & CEO: Cheryl L. Willman, M.D. UNM Cancer Research Facility MSC 08 4630 1 University of New Mexico 2325 Camino de Salud Albuquerque, NM 87131 Tel: (505) 272-5622 Fax: (505) 272-4039 Rae Ann Paden, MPH Associate Director, Research Administration Tel: (505) 272-4810 Don Whitehead Chief Operating Officer Tel: (505) 272-4443 Visit Website Clinical Trials at this Center

Located in a region of rich multicultural and multiethnic diversity, tremendous scientific and technological capability, and challenging health and socioeconomic disparity, The University of New Mexico Cancer Research & Treatment Center (UNM CRTC) is the nation’s newest NCI-Designated Cancer Center. The special characteristics of the UNM CRTC are the multiethnic populations that it serves with their strikingly different patterns of cancer incidence and mortality; the integration of regional scientific strengths in engineering, nanotechnology, microsystems, and high performance computing at UNM, New Mexico State University, and Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories into its Research Programs; and the extensive networks that it has developed for community-based participatory research and cancer clinical trials. With significant support from UNM, The State of New Mexico, its formal consortium partners (Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories), and the community, the UNM CRTC members and programs have grown tremendously over the past five years. Over 45 new clinical and research faculty have been recruited since 2001. The UNM CRTC currently provides care to more than 2,600 newly diagnosed cancer patients annually, over 50% of whom are ethnic minorities (predominantly Hispanic and American Indian); these patients represent 36% of the adults and over 90% of the New Mexican children diagnosed each year with cancer. Over 35% of the patients treated at the UNM CRTC are accrued to cancer clinical trials (prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment), with 13% of patients accrued to therapeutic studies. The UNM CRTC maintains high rates of minority accrual (60% minority participation in all trials; 40% to therapeutic trials) while also providing significant cancer care to the uninsured and underserved.

The UNM CRTC Research Programs, Shared Resources, and Ambulatory Clinical Facilities are housed in two dedicated buildings on the UNM Health Sciences Center Campus: The UNM Cancer Research & Treatment Center (a 116,000 sq. ft. four story ambulatory clinic and research facility) and The UNM Cancer Research Facility (an 85,000 sq. ft. four story research facility). With significant support from the State of New Mexico, the Center broke ground on a new $90 million, 150,000 sq. ft. state of the art ambulatory cancer treatment facility in May 2007. The 110 program members of the UNM CRTC are clustered into 4 Research Programs, supported by over $50 million in annual research funding: Population Sciences & Cancer Control, Cancer, Cancer Biology & Biotechnology, Hematologic Malignancies, and Women’s Cancers that are focused on the following overall goals:

1. To conduct outstanding multidisciplinary cancer research in our laboratories, clinics, and communities that builds on unique institutional and regional scientific strengths and collaborative research partnerships with the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute and New Mexico’s National Laboratories.
2. To reduce cancer incidence and mortality by discovering the genetic, environmental, social, and behavioral factors which contribute to the distinct cancer patterns in the multiethnic populations of New Mexico.
3. To reduce cancer health disparities in the historically underserved populations of the Southwest through collaborative community networks with the State Department of Health; New Mexico Pueblos, Tribes, and American Indian Nations; the Indian Health Service; and local communities by developing culturally appropriate cancer education, screening, and prevention programs.
4. To provide outstanding cancer treatment for all New Mexicans, by improving access to quality cancer care and innovative therapies through increased referrals and formal affiliations with community cancer care providers.
5. To increase access to and participation of New Mexicans in cancer clinical investigations and cancer therapeutic and prevention clinical trials, facilitated by a joint UNM-community collaborative clinical trials network (The New Mexico Cancer Care Alliance).