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LOOKING UP: At the center,
“We will be able to get new therapies to
patients faster,” says one surgeon.
Glenn Matsumura |
After 10 years of planning,
the 150,000-square-foot, $85 million Stanford Cancer
Center opened to patients March 1. The facility consolidates
the Medical Center’s cancer clinics and resources,
aiming to streamline patient care and facilitate research.
Some 200 cancer experts work in the center, and surgeons,
oncologists and radiologists are housed together, by
cancer specialty, for the first time. “The new
center will enable surgeons to work even more closely
with radiation and medical oncologists,” says
Jeffrey Norton, professor of surgery and chief of the
division of surgical oncology. “This is a big
advantage: we will be able to get new therapies to patients
faster and get better results with tumors that are currently
untreatable.” The School of Medicine hopes the
center will facilitate its designation as a comprehensive
cancer center by the National Cancer Institute.
The Cancer Clinical Trials Office is housed in the
new building, strategically placed in a high-traffic
area near the kitchen. “It’s important that
we’re there because it’s beneficial for
people conducting the clinical trials to rub elbows,”
says Branimir Sikic, professor of medicine and the office’s
director. “There’s more opportunity for
cross-fertilization and a sense of community.”
Radiation oncologist Steven A. Leibel will serve as
medical director of the cancer center. As chair of the
department of radiation oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center in New York, Leibel was recognized for
developing targeted therapies for cancers of the brain
and prostate.
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