$74.2M
Direct Annual Cancer Research Funding
About the University of Colorado Cancer Center
CU Cancer Center Vision and Mission
The University of Colorado Cancer Center is Colorado’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center and one of only four in the 10-state Rocky Mountain Region, creating a nexus of world-class doctors and researchers focused on discovering and delivering new ways to prevent and treat cancer.
Our approximately 300 members work in labs and hospitals on the Anschutz Medical Campus including UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, Children’s Hospital Colorado, and the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center, and also at partner institutions including CU Boulder, CSU Flint Animal Cancer Center, Denver Health, and UCHealth locations across the state.
CU Cancer Center focuses on interdisciplinary research conducted in four programs: Cancer Prevention and Control, Tumor Host Interactions, Developmental Therapeutics, and Molecular and Cellular Oncology.
CU Cancer Center Vision
Prevent and conquer cancer. Together.
Mission
Uniting our community to overcome cancer through innovation, discovery, prevention, early detection, multidisciplinary care, and education.
By the Numbers
80+
NCI Grants Worth Over $17 Million274
Full and Mentored Members599
Publications in FY2022Why Come to the CU Cancer Center
Discoveries at CU Cancer Center and elsewhere allow us to offer state of the art treatments including genetically targeted drugs, anti-cancer immunotherapies and cancer stem cell-directed therapies, both in standard-of-care settings and in clinical trials. Multidisciplinary clinics for many cancer types streamline the process of diagnosis and treatment planning, while powering each case with input from 30+ experts across treatment specialties. Our expertise across cancer types helps us provide world-class treatment for common cancers, while offering hope for many patients with difficult or aggressive tumors who have struggled to find treatment options elsewhere.
At CU Cancer Center, our members include Nobel Laureates and recognized leaders in scientific fields including cancer stem cell biology, cancer immunology and the genetic abnormalities that create cancer, collaborating to make discoveries that lead to cures. Our shared resources provide access for our members and others in the Colorado research community to the advanced technologies needed for modern cancer research.
As a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), CU Cancer Center experts define the guidelines for treating cancer that are followed by doctors in hospitals and clinics around the country and the world. We are also proud to participate in the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN), partnering with other leading institutions to use big data to match individual patients with targeted treatments.
We understand that fighting cancer is only one piece of a patient’s journey. That’s why in addition to offering world-class cancer treatments, CU Cancer Center and its clinical care partners offer services to help patients manage the emotional and physical symptoms that can accompany a cancer diagnosis, including individual and group support nutrition, pain management, exercise, psychology, financial and survivorship support programs.
Our members also have appointments within the CU School of Medicine, helping to train the next generation of cancer doctors and scientists. Our National Cancer Institute-funded Training Program in Cancer Biology (TPCB) trains graduate students and Postdoctoral Fellows in independent, mentored research focusing on all aspects of Cancer Biology, while our Cancer Research Experience for Undergraduates (CREU), offers 35 to 40 college undergraduate students and a few advanced high school students the opportunity to spend ten weeks during the summer working with laboratory scientists.
CU Cancer Center History
Since its inception in 1985, the University of Colorado (CU) Cancer Center has become the hub of cancer research in the state of Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region. The CU Cancer Center received its first five-year National Cancer Institute (NCI) cancer center support grant in 1987 as a clinical cancer center and its comprehensive designation in 1997.
University of Colorado Hospital, where the majority of our adult cancer patients receive treatment, is ranked in the top 50 U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals rankings. Our pediatric cancer patients receive treatment primarily at Children's Hospital Colorado, which U.S. News ranks #9 in pediatric cancer care.
CU Cancer Center is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), an alliance of the nation’s leading cancer centers working to establish and deliver the gold standard in cancer clinical guidelines. CU Cancer Center also is a member of the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN), a unique research partnership among North America’s top cancer centers leveraging multiple data sources and matching patients to targeted treatments.