Mayo Clinic's designation as a comprehensive cancer center in Rochester, Minn., has been extended to include Mayo's locations in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Jacksonville, Fla. Mayo Clinic is the first multicenter clinic in the United States to receive comprehensive cancer center designation for its entire cancer program.
The extended designation followed an endorsement by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of plans by Mayo Clinic to reorganize the cancer research, treatment and education programs at its three locations into a single cancer center.
"We fully agree (with) the reorganization of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center that established a foundationwide cancer center encompassing the Jacksonville and Scottsdale sites," says Brian Kimes, Ph.D., director of the NCI's Office of Centers, Training and Resources. "We believe that the benefits that will accrue to cancer research and cancer patients will be substantial."
This year an estimated 13,000 new cancer patients will seek treatment at Mayo Clinic.
"A Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in three locations will further ensure our goal that patients with cancer will receive the same standard of treatment regardless which Mayo Clinic location they choose for their care," says Hugh Smith, M.D., chair of the Board of Governors at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. "It also will enable us to better coordinate our current research programs and to expand our future research endeavors into the emerging sciences such as genomics."
For Scottsdale, the designation gives patients the choice of coming to the only NCI-designated cancer center in that region where they will have full access to clinical trials and other research and treatment programs that connote a comprehensive cancer center, according to Victor Trastek, M.D., chair of the Board of Governors at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. In Jacksonville, researchers are being recruited to run the research programs that will be housed in the new C.V. and Elsie R. Griffin Cancer Research Building and planning has begun to expand the already substantial cancer treatment programs for patients, according to Denis Cortese, M.D., chair of the Board of Governors at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.
Franklyn Prendergast, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the NCI designation is the culmination of more than four years of planning and formally establishes one Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center with three doors of entry.
"Currently, the majority of cancer research and patient treatment occurs in Rochester," says Dr. Prendergast. "We will maintain the reputation that Rochester has established in research and treatment while further developing areas of research and treatment in Scottsdale and Jacksonville."
Mayo Clinic recently approved expansion plans for the cancer center and its research programs in all three of its locations:
* Jacksonville -- The new C.V. and Elsie R. Griffin Cancer Research Building will provide 40,000 square feet of new laboratory space for cancer researchers. Five new researchers will be recruited, including a new deputy director for the cancer center and research programs.
* Rochester -- Cancer research laboratories will expand into 35,000 square feet of new laboratory space in the recently constructed Gonda Building, and 12 new researchers will be recruited.
* Scottsdale -- Three new cancer researchers will be recruited this year, and plans will be developed to build additional research facilities. Laurence Miller, M.D., will become the new deputy director of the cancer center and research programs on Aug. 1. Along with treating patients, Dr. Miller will continue his research on pancreatic cancer in Scottsdale.
Complementing the expanded research efforts will be increased access for cancer patients in the Southwest and Southeast to clinical trials and investigational treatments in Scottsdale and Jacksonville. Mayo Clinic annually conducts approximately 200 clinical trials to advance the understanding and treatment of cancer.
In addition, the single cancer center will enable Mayo Clinic to more cohesively expand its cancer prevention and treatment programs to minority and underserved populations. Examples of such efforts include the Mayo Clinic cancer screening and education program for Native Americans in Arizona and the breast cancer screening program for African-American women in the Jacksonville area.
"We expect to expand these programs and develop others with a similar purpose," says Dr. Prendergast.
The NCI designation ranks the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in the top tier of cancer centers in the United States. The NCI is the federal agency that sets standards for cancer centers. Only 61 cancer centers in the United States are NCI-designated, and only 40 of those centers have the highest ranking of comprehensive cancer center.
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