OSU cancer center told it’s among best in U.S

Colleges and Universities A-Z Ohio State University
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<p>OSU cancer center told it’s among best in U.S.</p>

<p>Sunday, January 30, 2011 02:57 AM
By Misti Crane</p>

<p>THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH </p>

<p>Dr. Michael Caligiuri is one proud man.</p>

<p>The director of Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center recently got word that his institution has earned the equivalent of straight A’s for research. Even better, those grades carry with them the hope that a $60 million check will follow. </p>

<p>The National Cancer Institute reviews the nation’s cancer-research centers every five years and gives them a score based on several factors. Under the current scoring system, which runs from 90 to 10, with 10 being a perfect score, Ohio State received a 12. </p>

<p>The team that reviewed Ohio State said that “since the previous site visit, there has been substantial improvement in every dimension of this cancer center,” and it should serve as a model for others. </p>

<p>Ohio State was recognized for a number of improvements, among them recruiting scientists who are making strides in improving cancer care, Caligiuri said. </p>

<p>In the past five years, 159 cancer researchers have joined the center.</p>

<p>The number of OSU-developed trials of potential new cancer therapies increased from 154 in 2004 to 552 in 2009, the same year in which researchers published more than 4,000 papers on their work. </p>

<p>“It is all about how good a job you’re doing at cancer research,” Caligiuri said.</p>

<p>The designation is not an indication of patient care, but research can lead to better treatment down the road. For example, patients can get access to new technology and drugs developed at these cancer centers. </p>

<p>There are 40 comprehensive cancer centers in the country, including two in Ohio. The other is in Cleveland, at Case Western Reserve University. Any center that scores a 10 to 19 is considered “exceptional,” but the National Cancer Institute does not make the scores public. </p>

<p>“As far as I know, there have only been three that have been in (the exceptional) rank so far,” said Dr. Shelley Earp, director of the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. </p>

<p>Earp declined to share UNC’s score — which also fell in the exceptional category — but did say that Ohio State’s score was better. </p>

<p>“It’s a tremendous compliment to Ohio State,” said Earp, who is on the OSU cancer center’s external advisory board.</p>

<p>The NCI panel that reviewed Ohio State is recommending that the university receive more than $60 million in the next five years — three times the award last time around, according to a summary of the NCI review provided by the university. Caligiuri would not provide the full report. </p>

<p>The actual grant this time is sure to be lower, once the National Institutes of Health budget is completed several months from now, Caligiuri said. In 2004, the NCI panel recommended a $31.7 million grant for Ohio State, and the university received almost $20 million. </p>

<p>Over the years, Ohio State has received progressively higher marks from the NCI. In 1994, the cancer center received a “very good to excellent” score. It was judged “excellent” in 1999 and “outstanding” in 2004. </p>

<p>“It’s so clear that the university, from the president on down, has made this something that the university is investing in,” Earp said. </p>

<p>Such a distinction could lead biomedical companies to seek out Columbus as a place to do business, he said.</p>

<p>Ohio State learned last month that it has won a $100 million federal grant to add a radiation oncology center next to its $1 billion Medical Center expansion. The university beat out more than a half-dozen other schools for the grant, which was inserted into the health-care reform bill last year to finance construction at a university research hospital. </p>

<p><a href="mailto:mcrane@dispatch.com">mcrane@dispatch.com</a></p>

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