Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center

Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center
Name	Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center
Location	Boston, Massachusetts
Country	United States
Type	Comprehensive cancer center
Founded	1990s
Affiliated	Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School

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Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center

The Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center is a major oncology center in Boston linked to Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, and Harvard Medical School. The center provides multidisciplinary care, translational research, and education, engaging with institutions such as Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children's Hospital, and national organizations including the National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society. It operates within networks that involve Partners HealthCare (now Mass General Brigham), National Comprehensive Cancer Network, and collaborative groups like Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology.

Overview

The center integrates clinical oncology services with research programs from Dana–Farber Cancer Institute and clinical operations from Brigham and Women's Hospital, affiliating with academic entities such as Harvard Medical School, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and research institutes like the Broad Institute and Whitehead Institute. It treats patients with malignancies referenced in publications from journals like The New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nature Medicine, Cell, and Science Translational Medicine. Leadership and faculty include investigators with training at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Mayo Clinic, and Stanford Medicine.

The center grew from collaborations among Dana–Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital during the 1990s and 2000s, tying to historic institutions such as Massachusetts General Hospital and academic programs at Harvard Medical School. Major milestones parallel initiatives by the National Institutes of Health, the designation programs of the National Cancer Institute, and cooperative group trials like Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. Funding and philanthropic support have come from donors and foundations including Jimmy Fund, Dana Foundation, and private benefactors similar to gifts to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Clinical programs cover adult and pediatric oncology in tumor-specific clinics for diseases such as breast cancer, hematologic malignancies, lung cancer, gastrointestinal cancers, genitourinary cancers, and sarcoma, often referenced alongside services at Dana–Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center partners like Boston Children's Hospital. Subspecialty services coordinate with programs at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Joslin Diabetes Center, Shriners Hospitals for Children, New England Baptist Hospital, and tertiary referrals from centers like Cleveland Clinic. Multidisciplinary tumor boards and specialty clinics link to societies including American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society of Hematology, Society of Surgical Oncology, American College of Surgeons, and American Association for Cancer Research.

Research activities involve basic, translational, and clinical trials conducted in collaboration with entities such as the Broad Institute, Whitehead Institute, Wyss Institute, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, and pharmaceutical partners like Merck & Co., Pfizer, Roche, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and AstraZeneca. Investigators publish in journals like Nature, Science, The Lancet Oncology, Blood, and Cancer Cell, and participate in consortia such as the Cancer Genome Atlas and the International Cancer Genome Consortium. Technology platforms and initiatives align with CRISPR Therapeutics, Illumina, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and bioinformatics collaborations with Broad Institute investigators involved in projects akin to ENCODE and 1000 Genomes Project.