Welcome from the Director

Welcome to The University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center devoted to providing cutting-edge therapies and individualized care in over 55,000 cancer patient visits each year.

Our internationally recognized experts in cancer care and research, faculty of the University of Maryland School of Medicine or other professional schools of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, work together to offer new hope to cancer patients through better prevention, detection and treatment of all types of cancer.

Bringing promising new therapies from the laboratory to the bedside is a high priority, and UMGCCC scientists are immersed in research on new drugs and therapies, as evidenced by the more than 300 clinical trials currently underway here. This means that our patients have access to many of the very latest treatment options that often will not be commercially available for up to five years.

As a cancer clinician and researcher specializing in head and neck cancers, I think very practically about how to take a clinical problem I see every day as I'm caring for my patients, take it into a lab and come up with a new tool we can use to help patients. That's really what a cancer center is about -- translating basic science results into better ways to treat patients -- and something we work hard to accomplish every day.

Patient care is our top priority. That's why we offer comprehensive, coordinated care through our multidisciplinary care approach from teams of specialists who consult on each patient's case and develop an individualized treatment plan. Each patient benefits from the collaboration of surgeons, hematologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, nurses, social workers and other team members to receive the best possible care.

In response to the needs of both patients and health care providers, the UMGCCC Web site features detailed information on all major types of cancer, our treatment services, treatment teams, clinical trials and much more. We hope you will explore our Web site and find it to be a valuable resource for cancer information.

Thanks for your interest in UMGCCC, where hope truly is a way of life.

Sincerely,

Kevin J. Cullen, M.D.
Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Distinguished Professor of Oncology
Director, University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center