After 10 years of planning, the 150,000-square-foot, $85 million Stanford Cancer Center opened to patients March 1. The facility consolidates the Medical Center’s cancer clinics and resources, aiming to streamline patient care and facilitate research.
Some 200 cancer experts work in the center, and surgeons, oncologists and radiologists are housed together, by cancer specialty, for the first time. “The new center will enable surgeons to work even more closely with radiation and medical oncologists,” says Jeffrey Norton, professor of surgery and chief of the division of surgical oncology. “This is a big advantage: we will be able to get new therapies to patients faster and get better results with tumors that are currently untreatable.” The School of Medicine hopes the center will facilitate its designation as a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute.
The Cancer Clinical Trials Office is housed in the new building, strategically placed in a high-traffic area near the kitchen. “It’s important that we’re there because it’s beneficial for people conducting the clinical trials to rub elbows,” says Branimir Sikic, professor of medicine and the office’s director. “There’s more opportunity for cross-fertilization and a sense of community.”
Radiation oncologist Steven A. Leibel will serve as medical director of the cancer center. As chair of the department of radiation oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, Leibel was recognized for developing targeted therapies for cancers of the brain and prostate.
