President's Pages Center President Harold Varmus 
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The melding of research with patient care is at the heart of everything we do. At Sloan-Kettering Institute, state-of-the-art science research flourishes side-by-side with clinical investigation and treatment at Memorial Hospital, the nation's oldest cancer hospital. We are also one of 39 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, affirming our leadership in research, patient care, and education.
Patient Care
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center experts have established standards of care and treatment protocols for each type and stage of cancer. Our physicians have an extraordinary depth and breadth of experience in diagnosing and treating all forms of the disease, from the most common to the very rare. Each year, they treat more than 400 different subtypes of cancer. This level of specialization can have an often-dramatic effect on a patient's chances for a cure or control of their cancer. And while we are known for our advanced, innovative therapies, our physicians are equally well regarded for their compassion and concern.
Our Disease Management Program features 16 multidisciplinary cancer teams. Patients are treated by as many different specialists as are needed for their particular type of disease, including surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, psychiatrists, and nurses.
Our pathologists have unsurpassed expertise in using advanced methods to accurately diagnose cancer. Memorial Sloan-Kettering's surgeons perform more cancer operations than at any other hospital in the nation, and because of their sole focus on cancer can often use surgical techniques that preserve form and function. And our radiation oncologists are developing and putting into clinical practice leading-edge technologies and techniques in radiation therapy. In addition, the Center offers a full range of programs to help patients and families throughout all phases of treatment, including support groups, genetic counseling, help managing cancer pain and symptoms, rehabilitation, integrative medicine services, and assistance in navigating life after treatment.
Research
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center maintains one of the world's most dynamic programs of cancer research. The extraordinary patient care we provide benefits from our innovative programs in basic, translational, and clinical research. Research at Sloan-Kettering Institute is dedicated to understanding the biology of cancer through programs in cell biology, genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, structural biology, computational biology, immunology, and therapeutics.
Investigators at Sloan-Kettering Institute collaborate with Memorial Hospital physician-scientists, a partnership that helps speed important research findings from the laboratory to the bedside, in a process known as translational research. Memorial Sloan-Kettering also actively initiates and participates in clinical trials to identify more effective cancer therapies, and our physicians are currently leading more than 400 clinical trials for pediatric and adult cancers.
Established in 2005, the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program (HOPP) is a further effort to increase institutional research strength in areas important in contemporary translational research. HOPP is designed to meld even more thoroughly the cultures of basic biologic science and clinical oncology, augmenting the work conducted in the laboratories of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's physician-scientists.
Education and Training
Education is a vital part of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's mission. Our training programs prepare physicians and scientists for careers in the biomedical sciences. Our collaborations with The Rockefeller University, Cornell University, and Weill Medical College of Cornell University offer PhD programs in chemical biology, computational biology and medicine, and the medical sciences. The Center also partners with Weill Medical College and The Rockefeller University to offer a MD/PhD degree for aspiring physician-scientists.
In 2004, the Center established a PhD program in cancer biology through its new Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. This novel program, which enrolled its first class in 2006, trains basic laboratory scientists to work in research areas directly relevant to cancer and other human diseases.
We also offer postgraduate clinical fellowships to train physicians who seek special expertise in a particular type of cancer and postgraduate research fellowships that provide physicians and scientists with advanced laboratory research training. With faculty appointments at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, our clinical staff also train residents and medical students.
Facilities
Along with state-of-the-art facilities for diagnosis, inpatient, and ambulatory care in Manhattan, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has outpatient facilities located throughout the tri-state area.
Memorial Hospital, with 432 beds, is located at 1275 York Avenue, between 67th and 68th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The majority of the Center's outpatients are seen at our Rockefeller Outpatient Pavilion on 53rd Street at Third Avenue in midtown Manhattan. This facility offers medical consultation, diagnostic imaging, chemotherapy, pharmacy services, cancer screening, and integrative medicine services. Outpatient breast cancer services in Manhattan are provided at the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center on 64th Street near Second Avenue. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are offered on an outpatient basis at community-based cancer treatment centers in New Jersey, Long Island, and Westchester County. These regional programs are staffed by Memorial Sloan-Kettering physicians and other Center healthcare professionals.
Memorial Sloan-Kettering is constantly renovating and expanding to meet the growing needs of our patients, physicians, and scientists. A new 23-story research building, The Mortimer B. Zuckerman Research Center, has opened across the street from Memorial Hospital. The new building, with more than 300,000 square feet of laboratory space, houses many of our cancer research programs. The Center recently opened The Claire Tow Pediatric Pavilion, with new inpatient and outpatient pediatric facilities now on one contiguous floor. Extensive renovations to Memorial Hospital include the construction of 21 new surgical suites designed to accommodate the latest technologies. The Sidney Kimmel Center for Prostate and Urologic Cancers, which opened in 2002, offers comprehensive care for genitourinary cancers. A new breast and imaging center -- on Second Avenue between 65th and 66th Streets -- which contains the expanded Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center will open for patients in the fall 2009.
As the world's oldest and largest private cancer center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has devoted more than a century to patient care as well as to innovative research, making significant contributions to new and better therapies for the treatment of cancer. We are proud of the progress we have made in the fight against cancer, as well of our extraordinary institution and our staff of more than 10,000 employees. Their dedication, teamwork, and talent make a difference in the lives of our patients today and those we will see in the future.
