BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) — It was a celebratory mood Monday inside the research studies center on the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Campus as it was announced that The National Cancer Institute has renewed its status as one of 50 elite Comprehensive Cancer Centers and awarding a $22.5 million grant to fund research and education programs. The grant is the largest such award and highest application score in Roswell Park's history. Roswell Park has held this prestigious NCI designation continuously since it became one of the nation's very first Comprehensive Cancer Centers more than 45 years ago.
NCI Cancer Center Support Grants, also known as Core Grants, are awarded to support the research mission of centers that demonstrate strong programs in cancer care, research and education. Through a process involving rigorous peer review, they look at a center's leadership and organization as well as its ability to reduce the impact of cancer on the community it serves through programming in five key areas: basic laboratory research, clinical research, population and prevention studies, career education and community outreach/engagement.
Comprehensive Cancer Center status has also been linked with improved patient outcomes. Three major studies concluded that long-term survival rates were improved by 6-20% overall, and within specific cancer types, for patients who received their cancer treatment from the start at an NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, compared to those treated other teaching hospital and community cancer treatment settings.
