The Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center has achieved the National Cancer Institute designation as a comprehensive cancer center. The distinction carries additional federal research funding of $21 million over five years, and it puts the St. Louis institution in the ranks of the nation''s top cancer centers.
Siteman combines the cancer care and research resources of Washington University Medical School and Barnes-Jewish Hospital. It''s the only cancer center in Missouri with a National Cancer Institute ranking, setting it apart from hospitals that cluster services in cancer centers that have not submitted to the rigorous process. Siteman''s patient volumes make it one of the largest cancer centers in the nation.
The center treated 6,000 new patients in 2004 and saw about 30,000 patients for follow-up care. Siteman has its headquarters on the campus of Barnes-Jewish Hospital in the Center for Advanced Medicine at Forest Park Boulevard and Euclid Avenue in St. Louis.
The next nearest comprehensive cancer centers are the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University in Chicago and the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. The majority of comprehensive cancer centers are clustered on the East and West coasts.
Siteman Director Dr. Timothy J. Eberlein said the National Cancer Institute status plugs a geographic hole in the nation''s grid of cancer centers and marks progress toward his goal of making Siteman the world''s best cancer treatment center.
"We haven''t attained that, but we''ve come a long way," he said. "The ultimate goal of everyone at Siteman is reducing the burden of this terrible disease."
The nation''s 39 comprehensive cancer centers, including Siteman, have differing clusters of expertise. All are recognized for clinical and basic research, and for work in preventing and treating disease.
Siteman was named a National Cancer Institute clinical cancer center three years ago. To attain the comprehensive center designation, it had to pass a "rigorous peer review" and perform research in three major areas: basic research; clinical research; and cancer prevention, control and population-based research, according to the institute.
Besides original research at the medical school, Siteman gets expertise from Washington University''s schools of biomedical engineering, social work, psychology and basic sciences. It collaborates with the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and St. Louis University''s School of Graduate Public Health.
"I have used the analogy (that) it is like stringing a pearl necklace together," Eberlein said. "We did not own all the pearls."
Siteman has expertise in leukemia and lymphoma, genetics and cell biology, cancer imaging and bone marrow transplant. Other cancer specialties are breast, gastrointestinal, gynecological, head and neck, musculoskeletal, nervous system, pediatric, skin and melanoma, thoracic, thyroid and urological cancers.
"Superb science is the backbone of a cancer center," Eberlein said. "You are only as good as the new science. We have been able to attract some world-class researchers as well as clinicians."
Siteman researchers receive more than $150 million in annual grants. Almost $50 million of that comes from the National Cancer Institute. Siteman has 50 investigator-initiated trials in progress.
Eberlein said the research investments spawn discoveries and inventions that attract venture capital and contribute to the St. Louis region''s quest to become a biotechnology center.
Siteman also announced that it has received a $5 million donation from Charles F. and Joanne Knight for the center''s breast health and breast cancer program.