Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Encyclopedia
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute is part of a Comprehensive Cancer Center designated by the National Cancer Institute
. It is a major affiliate of Harvard Medical School
and is located in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston
, Massachusetts
.
. Dana-Farber is a member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium
.
In addition to being a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber is also a federally designated Center for AIDS Research, and a founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
(DF/HCC), a federally designated comprehensive cancer center. Providing advanced training in cancer treatment and research for an international faculty, Dana-Farber conducts community-based programs in cancer prevention, detection, and control throughout New England, and maintains joint programs with other Boston institutions affiliated with Harvard Medical School and the Partners HealthCare
System, including Brigham and Women's Hospital
, Children's Hospital Boston
, and Massachusetts General Hospital
.
Dana-Farber is supported by the National Cancer Institute
, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
, and private foundations and individuals contributions. The Jimmy Fund
is the principal charity of the Institute named for one of its child patients. The Boston Red Sox
adopted the Jimmy Fund as its official charity in 1953 and continues to prominently sponsor the charity.
, MD, founded the Children's Cancer Research Foundation in 1947. The Institute officially expanded its programs to include patients of all ages in 1969. It became known as the Sidney Farber Cancer Institute in honor of its founder in 1974. The support of the Charles A. Dana Foundation was acknowledged by incorporating Dana's name in 1983.
to care for adults with cancer. Dana-Farber provides outpatient services, while inpatient care is provided by Brigham and Women's Hospital.
DF/BWCC cares for adult patients in more than a dozen specialized treatment centers, each devoted to helping people fight a different type of cancer. This coordinated arrangement makes it possible for many people to see all of their specialists in a single visit. The medical staff works as a team to provide expert evaluation and the most advanced care possible.
and Dana–Farber Cancer Institute that delivers comprehensive care to children with and survivors of all types of childhood cancers. DF/CHCC specialists are actively involved in pediatric cancer research and use the latest clinical techniques to improve outcomes and quality of life. This includes 13 specialty areas.
They also work with several other local New England organizations that share a similar vision, such as Take a Swing at Cancer
, Angel's Hope, Childhood Cancer Lifeline of New Hampshire and Andrew's Helpful Hands.
National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health , which is one of 11 agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NCI coordinates the U.S...
. It is a major affiliate of Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
and is located in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
.
Overview
Dana-Farber employs more than 3,680 people and has annual revenues of about $800 million. There are more than 299,202 adult and pediatric patient visits a year, and it is involved in more than 700 clinical trials. It is internationally known for its research and clinical excellence, having been ranked the sixth best cancer hospital in the United States by U.S. News & World ReportU.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
. Dana-Farber is a member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium
Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium
-About the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium:The mission of the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium is to champion collaboration with and integration across academia and industry and to focus on speed and innovation to bring the most promising multiple myeloma treatments to patients faster...
.
In addition to being a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber is also a federally designated Center for AIDS Research, and a founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
The Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center is the largest National Cancer Institute designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the nation. Founded in 1998, DF/HCC is an inter-institutional research enterprise that unites all of the cancer research efforts of the Harvard affiliated community...
(DF/HCC), a federally designated comprehensive cancer center. Providing advanced training in cancer treatment and research for an international faculty, Dana-Farber conducts community-based programs in cancer prevention, detection, and control throughout New England, and maintains joint programs with other Boston institutions affiliated with Harvard Medical School and the Partners HealthCare
Partners HealthCare
Partners HealthCare is a non-profit organization that owns several hospitals in Massachusetts, primarily in the Boston area. Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital founded the organization in 1994...
System, including Brigham and Women's Hospital
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Brigham and Women's Hospital is the largest hospital of the Longwood Medical and Academic Area in Boston, Massachusetts. It is directly adjacent to Harvard Medical School of which it is the second largest teaching affiliate with 793 beds...
, Children's Hospital Boston
Children's Hospital Boston
Children's Hospital Boston is a 396-licensed bed children's hospital in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area of Boston, Massachusetts.At 300 Longwood Avenue, Children's is adjacent both to its teaching affiliate, Harvard Medical School, and to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute...
, and Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital is a teaching hospital and biomedical research facility in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...
.
Dana-Farber is supported by the National Cancer Institute
National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health , which is one of 11 agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NCI coordinates the U.S...
, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health , an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services...
, and private foundations and individuals contributions. The Jimmy Fund
The Jimmy Fund
The Jimmy Fund raises vital funds to support adult and pediatric cancer care and research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1948 to raise funds for patient care and the fight against children’s cancer, the Jimmy Fund now supports the search for new cancer...
is the principal charity of the Institute named for one of its child patients. The Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
adopted the Jimmy Fund as its official charity in 1953 and continues to prominently sponsor the charity.
History
Sidney FarberSidney Farber
Sidney Farber was a pediatric pathologist. He was born in 1903 in Buffalo, New York, the third oldest of a family of 14 children. He was a graduate of the University of Buffalo in 1923. He took his first year of medical school at the Universities of Heidelberg and Freiburg in Germany. He entered...
, MD, founded the Children's Cancer Research Foundation in 1947. The Institute officially expanded its programs to include patients of all ages in 1969. It became known as the Sidney Farber Cancer Institute in honor of its founder in 1974. The support of the Charles A. Dana Foundation was acknowledged by incorporating Dana's name in 1983.
Breakthroughs
Dana-Farber has a long history of breakthrough discoveries in cancer care and research.- 1947 - Sidney Farber leads a team of researchers who are the first in the world to attain temporary remissions of acute lymphocytic leukemia, the most common cancer in children. Methotrexate used by Dr. Farber was supplied by Dr. Y. SubbaRow, Director, Research at Lederle Co. at Pearl River, NY.
- 1954 - Farber and his colleagues achieve the first remissions of Wilms' tumorWilms' tumorWilms' tumor or nephroblastoma is cancer of the kidneys that typically occurs in children, rarely in adults.Its common name is an eponym, referring to Dr. Max Wilms, the German surgeon who first described this kind of tumor....
of the kidney, a common form of childhood cancer, and boost cure rates from 40 percent to 85 percent. - 1976 - Researchers at the Sidney Farber Cancer Center (now Dana-Farber) develop a new treatment for acute myelogenous leukemia that produces the first complete remissions of the disease in up to half of all patients.
- 1978 - Institute investigators develop combination chemotherapy for soft-tissue sarcomas, resulting in a 50-percent response rate.
- 1982- Dana-Farber researchers develop and apply the CA-125 blood test for ovarian cancer. They also are among the first to suspect a relationship between the retrovirus that causes human T cell leukemia (HTLV-1) and that which causes AIDS (HIV-1).
- 1984 - Dana–Farber Cancer Institute establishes the Molecular Biology Core Facilities (MBCF)Molecular Biology Core Facilities (MBCF)The Molecular Biology Core Facilities was created to allow investigators at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute access to cutting edge molecular biology tools which would be tested and developed in a shared setting. Collaborations can be set up with anyone in the world...
to supply state of the art molecular biology tools to Institute researchers. - 1991 - Dana-Farber investigators help introduce the use of naturally occurring growth hormones following high-dose chemotherapy, making bone marrow transplantation safer and more effective.
- 1993 - Dana-Farber investigators discover the gene that increases the risk for a common type of colon cancer. The MSH2DNA mismatch repairDNA mismatch repair is a system for recognizing and repairing erroneous insertion, deletion and mis-incorporation of bases that can arise during DNA replication and recombination, as well as repairing some forms of DNA damage....
gene and later the MLH1DNA mismatch repairDNA mismatch repair is a system for recognizing and repairing erroneous insertion, deletion and mis-incorporation of bases that can arise during DNA replication and recombination, as well as repairing some forms of DNA damage....
gene (also by DFCI investigators) are linked to hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCCHereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancerLynch syndrome is an autosomal dominant genetic condition which has a high risk of colon cancer as well as other cancers including endometrium, ovary, stomach, small intestine, hepatobiliary tract, upper urinary tract, brain, and skin...
). - 1996 - Institute researchers dramatically advance the understanding of how HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, replicates and infects healthy cells. Science magazine heralds this discovery as its "Breakthrough of the Year."
- 1998 - A drug called imatinibImatinibImatinib is a drug used to treat certain types of cancer. It is currently marketed by Novartis as Gleevec or Glivec as its mesylate salt, imatinib mesilate . It is used in treating chronic myelogenous leukemia , gastrointestinal stromal tumors and some other diseases...
(Gleevec), the early work for which was done at Dana-Farber, achieves striking success in many patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia. - 1999 - Working with colleagues at other hospitals, Dana-Farber scientists begin the first human studies of endostatinEndostatin]Endostatin is a naturally-occurring 20-kDa C-terminal fragment derived from type XVIII collagen. It is reported to serve as an anti-angiogenic agent, similar to angiostatin and thrombospondin....
, one of a new generation of compounds that arrest or shrink tumors by shutting off their blood supply. - 2002 - Dana-Farber researchers find that Gleevec, a targeted therapy that achieved striking success against chronic myelogenous leukemia, can shrink and even eliminate tumors in some patients with a rare and otherwise incurable digestive-tract cancer called gastrointestinal stromal tumor.
- 2003 - Scientists at Dana-Farber and the Whitehead InstituteWhitehead InstituteFounded in 1982, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a non-profit research and teaching institution located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA....
find a gene "signature" in several types of tumors that suggests they are likely to spread to other parts of the body, potentially leading to tests for determining whether tumors have the potential to metastasize. - 2005 - Dana-Farber scientists report that the drug gefitinibGefitinibGefitinib INN , trade name Iressa, is a drug used in the treatment of certain types of cancer, particularly those with mutated and overactive EGFR. Gefitinib is an EGFR inhibitor, like erlotinib, which interrupts signaling through the epidermal growth factor receptor in target cells...
(Iressa) produces dramatic benefits in non-small cell lung cancer patients who carry an abnormal version of a key protein, a potentially life-saving discovery for tens of thousands of patients around the world every year.
Care for adults with cancer
Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center (DF/BWCC) is a collaboration between Dana–Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's HospitalBrigham and Women's Hospital
Brigham and Women's Hospital is the largest hospital of the Longwood Medical and Academic Area in Boston, Massachusetts. It is directly adjacent to Harvard Medical School of which it is the second largest teaching affiliate with 793 beds...
to care for adults with cancer. Dana-Farber provides outpatient services, while inpatient care is provided by Brigham and Women's Hospital.
DF/BWCC cares for adult patients in more than a dozen specialized treatment centers, each devoted to helping people fight a different type of cancer. This coordinated arrangement makes it possible for many people to see all of their specialists in a single visit. The medical staff works as a team to provide expert evaluation and the most advanced care possible.
Care for children with cancer
Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center (DF/CHCC) is a more than 60-year-old partnership between Children's Hospital BostonChildren's Hospital Boston
Children's Hospital Boston is a 396-licensed bed children's hospital in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area of Boston, Massachusetts.At 300 Longwood Avenue, Children's is adjacent both to its teaching affiliate, Harvard Medical School, and to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute...
and Dana–Farber Cancer Institute that delivers comprehensive care to children with and survivors of all types of childhood cancers. DF/CHCC specialists are actively involved in pediatric cancer research and use the latest clinical techniques to improve outcomes and quality of life. This includes 13 specialty areas.
They also work with several other local New England organizations that share a similar vision, such as Take a Swing at Cancer
Take a Swing at Cancer
Take A Swing at Cancer, Inc., also known as "TASC", is an American tax-exempt charity that was established in memory of cancer patients and raises money to be used in the war against cancer. The emphasis of their fundraising events centers on sporting activities. Funds raised are primarily...
, Angel's Hope, Childhood Cancer Lifeline of New Hampshire and Andrew's Helpful Hands.