About Yale Cancer Center

History

Yale Cancer Center (YCC) was founded in 1974 as a result of an act of Congress in 1971 which declared the nation's "war on cancer." It is one of a select network of 40 Comprehensive Cancer Centers throughout the country, designated by the National Cancer Institute, and the only one in southern New England. The Cancer Center brings together the resources of the Yale University School of Medicine (YSM), Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH), and Yale University.

In the history of cancer treatment, Yale is perhaps best known as the institution where cancer chemotherapy and the entire field of cancer drug development was discovered and the very first cancer drug was administered. However, that was only one milestone in a long and rich legacy in cancer research. In the early 1900s, Dr. Ross Harrison developed the first methods for growing tumor cells in flasks on nutrient media. This development signaled an important advancement and led to considerable progress in understanding how tumors develop and grow. In 1921, Dr. Francesc Duran i Reynals succeeded in producing different types of sarcomas in animal model studies by overcoming the species barriers of certain oncogenic viruses. Dr. William Gardner's studies on steroid hormones and their role in experimental carcinogenesis added another dimension to our understanding of malignant disease. The first FDA approved selective immunotherapy treatment for any type of cancer, Transimmunization, was also developed at Yale under the direction of Dr. Richard Edelson.

Today, YCC scientists make many important contributions in basic science, in addition to focusing on translational research, an approach through which laboratory discoveries are quickly and efficiently integrated with clinical patient care. YCC emphasizes the molecular origins of cancer, stressing targeted treatments that are more specific to a particular cancer and less debilitating to patients. The Center's shared resource infrastructure ensures that the scientists have access to an array of highly sophisticated technologies that are crucial to developing innovative treatments that can be directly translated into clinical care.

At YCC, we are committed to caring for patients in a warm and compassionate environment that includes the facilities at YNHH as well as the outpatient areas in the Yale Physician's Building and YSM campus. The experts at YCC work as a team to plan and track every aspect of our patients' care and treatment. The specialists involved in the care of each individual patient form a team, including medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, oncology nurses, social workers, nutritionists, physical and occupational therapists, and clergy.