What You Need to Know
The National Cancer Institute (NCI), a part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded its most prestigious designation — “comprehensive cancer center” status — to Georgetown University‘s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in recognition of its high-impact research, community outreach and cancer care.
The NCI’s comprehensive cancer center designation, awarded by way of a competitive, rigorous, peer-reviewed “cancer center support grant,” was first received by Georgetown Lombardi 50 years ago. In addition, the John Theurer Cancer Center was renewed by the NCI as the research consortium partner of Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, a consortium that exponentially amplifies the work of both cancer centers. More than 6.5 million people live in the areas served by both cancer centers.
In 1971, the National Cancer Act was signed, establishing the NCI’s cancer centers program. In 1974, Georgetown Lombardi received its first comprehensive cancer center designation. Fifty years later, in the spring of 2023, the cancer center submitted its latest renewal, leading to a daylong site visit by a committee of “peers” on Sept. 12. The committee recommended continued NCI designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center Consortium.
Recent work at Georgetown Lombardi and John Theurer has shifted the paradigm in cancer in numerous ways, including conducting clinical trials that have changed the way melanoma is treated, modeling research that impacts breast cancer screening recommendations, and developing a medical-legal partnership that leverages the law to address health-harming
The comprehensive cancer center status has a dual impact for people in both Washington, DC, and New Jersey by allowing access to exceptional cancer care, including the most advanced cancer therapies and technologies, and tailoring services and educational outreach made available in collaboration with historically medically underserved populations.
In Washington, clinical care is provided by Georgetown’s academic health system partner, MedStar Health, via the designated affiliate hospitals, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and MedStar Washington Hospital Center. Clinical trials are also made available more broadly throughout the region through the MedStar Georgetown Cancer Institute. In New Jersey, clinical care and research is available at John Theurer Cancer Center and at its network of clinics and hospitals throughout the state.
Care is delivered by exceptional fellowship-trained clinicians who lead clinical studies that offer access to advanced treatments. Researchers also train the next generation of scientists and clinicians in clinics and laboratories.
Georgetown Lombardi prioritizes outreach and engagement into vulnerable communities to reach people historically underserved in New Jersey and Washington, DC, especially wards 6, 7 and 8, areas that have had some of the highest cancer death rates in the country. In Washington, cancer education, screening and cancer care navigation is provided by its flagship community center, the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention.
The Ralph Lauren Center was established in 2023, building on a 15-year foundation laid by its predecessor, the Capital Breast Cancer Center. It offers a dynamic patient navigation model that supports early detection (screening), diagnostic, treatment and preventative measures for breast, prostate, colorectal, lung and other cancers. The center also provides tailored community outreach, engagement and educational programming to vulnerable populations east of the Anacostia River.
In New Jersey, the John Theurer Cancer Center Cancer Community Outreach and Engagement (CCOE) mission is to address critical gaps in cancer prevention, early detection and education efforts in both community-based and clinically based research in its catchment area, while ensuring a health equity lens is forefront in all activities. CCOE provides health and research-related education, connects the community to cancer screening and prevention resources, and navigates community members to and through the health care system.
The CCOE works in tandem with the Cancer Prevention Precision Control Institute (CPPCI) at the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI). The CPPCI is dedicated to leveraging innovative behavioral science and health communication methodologies to address cancer disparities, community outreach and engagement, and improved health outcomes across the cancer care continuum.
One of the hallmark programs of the CCOE program is the Community-2-Care program, which is a comprehensive, evidence-based program that can be tailored for the audience to specific screen-detectable cancers (breast, cervical, colorectal and lung) and includes cancer risk assessment, SDOH assessment and linkage to resources, cancer-specific education, and tailored navigation. The CCOE program has received grant funding from both Gilead Sciences and the Merck Foundation to support these efforts broadly.
An additional measurement of the cancer centers’ success is the level of research funding. In 2023, the cancer center's peer-reviewed grants for research had increased by 64% since 2018, the last time the cancer center competed for the designation, with total cancer-related funding now exceeding $35M.
Training grants have more than tripled, and grants with multiple principal investigators have increased by more than 50%. More than a quarter of the cancer center’s 1,000+ research publications were in high-impact journals.
The CCSG grant officially begins May 1 and covers five years. Typically, cancer centers reapply for their redesignation every four to five years; the external pressure ensures expedience to obtain goals set through a strategic planning process.