Mesothelioma Foundations

Mesothelioma Doctors

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University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center

Contact Information

1500 East Medical Center Drive Ann Arbor, MI 48109
(800) 865-1125

Affiliated Doctors

Dr. Gregory P Kalemkerian

The University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center is located on campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This center is one of two in the state that are NCI (National Cancer Institute) designated as a comprehensive cancer center. NCI has bestowed this honor on only 40 centers in America.

Comprehensive Cancer Centers must meet stringent qualifications to obtain and retain this designation by NCI. They must be leading edge cancer research and treatment facilities with patient support and educational programs for the public and government officials. Most are developing new therapies, drugs and alternative programs for cancer patients.

The prevalent philosophy of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center is that cancer is a complex and opportunistic disease. All personnel hold the belief that each patient is unique from others. Experts and staff work together with patients as a team. Therefore, treating a rare disease like mesothelioma at a facility like this could not only benefit the current patient, but have long-term benefits as well. Ongoing care is provided by physicians and nurses. Specialists are brought into the case according to patient needs.

Many physicians are also researchers who work with colleagues locally in Michigan and around the country. Advanced methods and new discoveries are put to work for early detection and aggressive treatment of cancers. This is fuel for the center’s mission of conquering cancer with innovation and collaboration.

By having medical professionals and researchers under one roof with patients and specialists, the center believes all involved will benefit. This grouping of cancer fighters in one building was radical when the center opened in 1997. Today it is the standard model for cancer centers.

The center benefits from its location on the University of Michigan campus. It is near to 120 outpatient clinics and about 40 health centers that offer help for all types of medical conditions. This includes an abundance of research laboratories, highly skilled faculty, physicians, nurses and specialized hospitals for children and women.

Within the center’s nine story building, four floors are dedicated to outpatient cancer services for adults and children. Five floors are devoted to research studies. This Cancer Center was third in rank for hospitals receiving grant funding from NCI in 2007. Each year center researchers are granted around $79.5 million from NIH and other funding agencies. The building is adjacent to University Hospital.

Patient use of the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center increases steadily. In 2008, records were set with 82,400 outpatient visits. The center took in more adult cancer patients than any other hospital in Michigan, setting the record at 4,142 admissions. The leading cancers being diagnosed and treated here include lung cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, melanoma and blood cancers.

The center has 11 clinical research programs and many clinical trials that find new ways to detect and treat cancer. Current research includes studying the Mediterranean diet and its relationship to colon cancer. Headline makers are research for identifying stem cells in certain tumors, patterns of scrambled chromosomes, abnormal gene activity in prostate cancer cases and after care studies. The huge potential generated by having such a vast pool of researchers and laboratories benefits patients and physicians who are dealing with the treatment of cancer.

Support groups are the third element of this CCC. There are over 30 programs and services for patients and their families at the center.