UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center - Chapel Hill/Carrboro, NC

Overview

UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center is the cancer research facility at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC. One of the 45 National Cancer Institute-designed Comprehensive Cancer Centers, it is the only NCI-designated public cancer center in the state of North Carolina. The Center treats every type of adult and pediatric cancer at its clinical home, the N.C. cancer Hospital, which is part of the state-owned UNC Health Care system.

UNC Lineberger Cancer Center | source: unc.edu

History

UNC Lineberger first received its National Cancer Institute designation in 1975 and became a Comprehensive Cancer Center in 1990. The Lineberger family from Belmont, NC, provided the funding for the Center's first stand-alone research building (and current home) in 1984. The NC Cancer Hospital, the clinical care home for UNC Lineberger physicians, was completed in 2009. In 2014, the Center added its newest research location, Marsico Hall, with $243.5 million in support provided by the NC General Assembly.

Membership

UNC Lineberger has 301 members, drawn from over 40 departments at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, including the School of Medicine, the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, the Gillings School of Public Health, the School of Dentistry, the School of Nursing, the School of Media and Journalism, and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Leadership
Director, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center: Norman E. "Ned" Sharpless, MD [bio]
Director, UNC Cancer Care: H. Shelton Earp, MD [bio]
Physician-in-Chief, N.C. Cancer Hospital: Lisa A. Carey, MD [bio]

Research

UNC Lineberger is a proponent of the "bench to bedside" to cancer research, combining research in the laboratory with clinic-based patient care to make advances in cancer treatment. The Center is especially interested in understanding the causes of cancer at the genetic and environmental level, and conducts research to translate that research into new treatment and prevention measures.

Research Programs
Interdisciplinary research at UNC Lineberger is divided into nine research programs: Cancer Cell Biology, Immunology, Molecular Therapeutics, Virology, Cancer Genetics, Clinical Research, Breast Cancer, Cancer Prevention and Cancer Epidemiology

University Cancer Research Fund
In 2007, the North Carolina General Assembly established the University Cancer Research Fund to support cancer research funding in the state, with a planned $50 million in annual funding.

The Cancer Genome Atlas Project
UNC Lineberger is a leader in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), an effort funded by the National Cancer Institute to molecularly characterize thousands of human cancer samples. UNC Lineberger's work has focused on changing the way researchers and physicians study and treat cancers of the breast, kidney, skin, lung and brain.

Carolina Center for Nanotechnology Excellence
The Carolina Center for Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNE), an NCI-funding multidisciplinary center, brings together UNC-Chapel Hill's oncologists, chemists, physicists and drug discovery scientists. CCNE scientists work together to enhance treatment and detection of cancer using nanotechnologies such as PRINT (Particle Replication on Non-Wetting Templates), nanoparticles and carbon nano-based x-rays.

Patient Care

UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and UNC Cancer Care physicians treat patients from all 100 counties in the state of North Carolina, with more than 135,000 patient visits per year. Completed in 2009, the NC Cancer Hospital is the clinical home for UNC Lineberger physicians and patient support programs. The 315,000 square-foot building has 50 inpatient beds and 72 chemotherapy stations.

UNC Lineberger treats patients at the following clinics in the N.C. Caner Hospital:

Bladder Cancer Center of Excellence
Bone and Soft Tissue Oncology Program
Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation Program
Brain Metastases Specialty Clinic
UNC Breast Center
Cancer Genetics Program
Gastrointestinal Oncology Program
Geriatric Oncology Program
Gynecologic Oncology Program
Head and Neck Oncology Program
Leukemia Oncology Program
Lymphoma Oncology Program
Myeloma Oncology Program
Neuro-Oncology Program
Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Program
Skin Cancer and Melanoma Program
Thoracic Oncology Program
Von Hippel-Lindau Clinical Care Center
Center for Esophageal Disease

North Carolina Cancer Hospital - inner courtyard | source: news.unchealthcare.org

In the Media

Twenty-two UNC Lineberger/UNC Cancer Care physicians were included in Newsweek's 2015 List of the Nation's Top Cancer Doctors [Newsweek ]
UNC Lineberger researchers have been working with IBM's super computer, Watson, to deliver highly-personalized treatment suggestions to physicians [IBM Wild Ducks Podcast ]
In the US News & World Report 2015 - 16 Listing of Best Hospitals, UNC is ranked 32nd in the country in the cancer care category [USN&WR]
According to the Thomson Reuters 2014 Highly Cited Researchers list, six Lineberger researchers are among the most often-cited scientists in the world [Highly Cited]
In July, 2014, Dr. Feng Liu, a UNC Lineberger member and research professor in the Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics, was murdered while walking near the UNC-Chapel Hill campus [WRAL]