The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University has received the highest rating possible from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), an overall "exceptional," on the competitive renewal of its Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG). This NCI-designation is important to advancing cancer research that translates into new treatments for cancer patients.

The grant award will provide an estimated $30 million in core funding; a significant increase of more than 26 percent over the previous award. The CCSG provides essential support for Lurie Cancer Center's dynamic research programs, as well as infrastructure that includes 14 shared research facilities, resources and technology.

In addition to receiving the highest score in its history for the excellence of its research programs and patient care, Lurie Cancer Center received a near-perfect impact score of 12. Numerical scores are assigned on a scale from 10 to 90, with 10 being a perfect score.

The five-year renewal of Lurie Cancer Center's status as one of only 50 NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States follows a rigorous peer-review process that includes more than a year of preparation, a site visit and analysis by leading scientists from across the country. To earn Comprehensive Cancer Center designation, Lurie Cancer Center has demonstrated its scientific leadership; depth and breadth of research; commitment to education; and impactful community outreach programs to reduce the burden of cancer.

When choosing cancer care, an NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center provides innovative, research-based approaches to detecting and treating cancer. Through approximately 300 active clinical trials for nearly every type of cancer, Lurie Cancer Center's patients at Northwestern Memorial Hospital have access to the most advanced treatments available, often before they are available anywhere else. Nearly 15,000 new cancer patients are treated at the Lurie Cancer Center and its affiliated hospitals each year.

The rapid pace of discovery and the improved cancer treatments that NCI-designated cancer centers have helped pioneer have contributed substantially to the increase in the number of cancer survivors in the U.S., as well as to the quality of their lives.

To learn more about our program and the Lurie Cancer Center please visit cancer.northwestern.edu.