National Cancer Institute Center for Cancer Research
Founded by Congress in 1937, the National Cancer Institute Center for Cancer Research (NCI) was founded to respond to mounting concerns over the global health crisis that is cancer. Its founding was supported unilaterally in Congress by both parties.
At its original inception, the National Cancer Institute Center for Cancer Research was created as a separate entity, but it became a component of the National Institute of Health (NIH) in 1944. The NCI is funded entirely by the government and its budget was $5.1 billion in 2010. The majority of this sum was utilized in order to provide contracts and grants to universities, medical centers, laboratories, and companies domestically, as well as in sixty other countries around the globe.
The Cancer Act of 1971 outlines the institute’s primary functions and goals, which include the following:
-
Providing training in the fields of cancer treatment and diagnosis
-
Gathering, analyzing, and sharing the results of cancer research done in the United States as well as all over the world
-
Reviewing as well as approving grants to support the newest, most cutting-edge cancer research
-
Providing information on how to reduce cancer risk as well as increasing the chances of early detection
-
Providing information for patients who are currently fighting cancer on coping with the disease as well as improving the chances of survival
Thanks to the efforts of the National Cancer Institute’s scientists, as well as their partnered researchers across the nation and the globe, the rate of new cancer deaths and overall count of cases counted over the past two decades continues to decline worldwide.
The National Cancer Institute for Cancer Research differs from the majority of cancer centers in that it is devoted solely to clinical investigation and research; it does not treat patients. Instead, all patients of the doctors that work at the National Cancer Institute for Cancer Research are all participants in cutting-edge clinical trials and are treated at the National Institute of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Upwards of two-hundred-and-fifty scientists and clinicians work together with twenty National Institute of Health cancer institutes and centers as well as scientists in the industry and academics in order to advance their knowledge about the causes of cancer, prevention of cancer, and cancer therapies.
The dedicated doctors and scientists at the National Cancer Institute for Cancer Research transform ordinary laboratory research into applicable, forward-thinking treatments that benefit patients all over the world.
-
Biology and Genetics
-
Physiology and Epidemiology
-
Prevention and Screening
-
Diagnosis and Treatment
-
Palliative Care and Survivorship
Although the National Cancer Institute does not provide mesothelioma or standard cancer treatment, it indeed does run a multitude of clinical trials that are open to the patients who meet the criteria. These clinical trials are typically of serious benefit to mesothelioma and lung cancer patients because they often provide access to brand-new, experimental and novel treatments which are not yet available to the general public for the foreseeable future of medicine.
When a patient is being treated at the National Cancer Center or the National Institute of Health Clinical Center, there is no cost for any of the medical care recieview. From the moment that a participant becomes enrolled in a clinical trial, the NCI pays for all transportation costs and expenses of arriving at the center for participants who are not locals. Upon request, an additional, small food allowance may be granted to those who need it. All patients must heed the fact that medical insurance is usually required for the medical care that is not related to the trial or not provided at the Clinical Center. In supplement to the clinical and research trials that they undertake, the National Cancer Institute also designates the highest-ranked cancer centers all across the country.
NCI-Recognized Cancer Centers
An institute who has been designated by the National Cancer Institute receives worldwide recognition as well as research funding grants. Often times these designations are accompanied by supplementary grants and support that go directly to the institution as a whole as well. Those cancer centers that have been designated as an NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center are considered to be among the most qualified as well as advanced centers for cancer treatment in the nation.
For those patients dealing with ailments such as mesothelioma, being at a National Cancer Institute designated Cancer Center is typically the most recommended choice for treatment because these facilities are always more equipped to treat these rare diseases. The hospitals and other medical centers that end up receiving a Comprehensive Cancer Center designation must demonstrate they have outstanding faculty and facilities, dedication to patient wellness and treatment, as well as research excellence. In addition to the former parameters, they must also share the cancer treatment goals of the NCI towards providing public outreach as well as cancer education programs. It typically takes many years of preparation in order to earn this high of a designation, and every five years, the National Cancer Institute re-evaluates these cancer treatment centers.
There is a second designation of National Cancer Institute Cancer Center which is awarded to facilities that contain incredible facilities, capabilities in research, scientific leadership, as well as capabilities in laboratory and clinical sciences. These facilities, unlike the Comprehensive Cancer Centers, are less focused on cancer education and public outreach.