History
The University of Maryland's cancer center began as the intramural program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the NIH. In 1965, the NCI created an intramural program in the Division of Cancer Treatment (DCT) located at the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Hospital in Baltimore. Chemotherapy for cancer was beginning to be recognized as an integral part of modern cancer care, and the NCI was at the forefront of new approaches. The impetus for this off-campus intramural program was the need for additional beds for the NCI’s in-house Phase I and Phase II studies.
Because the NCI was a Federal organization, officials selected the Federal USPHS Hospital to serve as the source of beds relatively close to the Bethesda campus. The intramural program was formally designated as the Baltimore Cancer Research Center (BCRC) of the NCI. It included 40 beds, an 8-bed intensive care unit (ICU), a radiation oncology unit, and basic science laboratories of pharmacology and biochemistry, each directed by senior NCI personnel. The facility had the advantage of being close to the home campus, and its laboratory base was located in a city with a large patient population for referral for studies. The BCRC was involved in many studies, and the staff were highly productive, publishing multiple peer-reviewed papers in high-quality journals. For example, many patients in the landmark studies of MOPP treatment for Hodgkin’s disease were treated at the BCRC.
In 1974 the clinical unit of the BCRC moved to the University of Maryland Medical Center, and in 1976 the BCRC laboratories moved into the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The center remained an intramural NCI program under contractual arrangement between NCI and the University of Maryland at Baltimore. In 1978 its name was changed to the Baltimore Cancer Research Program (BCRP). From its inception, the BCRP was very active in clinical research with protocols developed by BCRP staff and via national groups such as the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB). The BCRP was also very active in basic and applied laboratory research in pharmacology, enzymology, immunology, and microbiology.
In 1981 the National Cancer Institute divested the Baltimore Cancer Research Program from the federal government, and the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Medical Center established the University of Maryland Cancer Center.
In 1996, the name of the cancer center was changed to the UMGCC in recognition of a $10 million gift by Baltimore philanthropists Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum.
In 2008, the center was named a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center.
Read more about this topic: University Of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center
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