Overview

UPMC Cancer Centers provides the finest level of cancer care to patients throughout the tri-state region. Working in tandem with the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), which comprises the academic and research activities for cancer at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC, UPMC Cancer Centers offers patients the latest advances in cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis and treatment.

The mission of UPMC Cancer Centers reflects the overall mission of UPCI as a premier National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer to provide the highest level of clinical care to the 30,000 patients treated at its facilities each year while performing cutting-edge cancer research. At UPMC Cancer Centers, more than 2,300 physicians, scientists, administrative staff, and other health care professionals are working together to reduce the burden of cancer. They represent a variety of specialties including surgical oncology, medial oncology, radiation oncology, otolaryngology, neuro-oncology, gynecologic oncology, palliative care, and behavioral medicine. Combined, these disciplines give the Cancer Centers a range of knowledge which covers virtually all types of adult cancer.

The medical professionals at UPMC Cancer Centers encompass 13 areas of expertise, each focusing on a specific type or treatment of cancer. These include a world-renowned Melanoma Program, as well as programs devoted to brain cancers, breast cancer, colon and gastrointestinal cancers, head and neck cancers, leukemias and lymphomas, liver cancer, lung cancer, gynecologic cancers, prostate and urologic cancers, and stem cell transplantation. Pediatric cancers are treated by specialists at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC

UPMC Cancer Centers is also one of the largest integrated community networks of cancer physicians and health care specialists in the country, and has now expanded internationally. The American network covers a geographic area of more than 200 miles around greater Pittsburgh, comprised of 180 affiliated oncologists at more than 40 locations throughout western Pennsylvania. These locations were selected to make it possible for any patient in the region to access a UPMC Cancer Centers location in 20 minutes. These network locations are closely tied to the Hillman Cancer Center through personnel and technology linkages. Similarly, our overseas locations in Dublin and Waterford, Ireland, allow patients access to the expertise and technology available at the Hillman Cancer Center.

As part of its commitment to cancer care throughout the tri-state area, UPMC Cancer Centers provides access to advanced technologies at many of its community sites. These new technologies include, among others, intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) – both innovative technologies that allow for precise tumor imaging and radiation treatment delivery. Clinical trials are also important in the development of comprehensive care, and the establishment of the new centers will allow for more rapid completion of a larger number of trials to accelerate important discoveries in cancer.

UPCI’s skill in recruiting talented scientists and clinical investigators in the field of cancer research has resulted in an increase in its government funding: a total of $154 million in 2007, up from a total of $149 million in 2004 and up from $120 million in 2001. Ranked 11th in funding from the National Cancer Institute and and consistently ranked among U.S. News & World Report’s “Best of the Best” cancer programs in the nation, UPCI ranks among the nation’s top-tier cancer institutes including MD Anderson, Memorial Sloan-Kettering and Johns Hopkins University.

UPMC Cancer Centers Executive Leadership

• Nancy E. Davidson, MD – Director
• Stanley M. Marks, MD – Director of Clinical Services and Chief Medical Officer
• James G. Terwilliger – Executive Director
• Peter D. Tate – Chief Financial Officer
• David L. Bartlett, MD – Co-Director of Surgical Oncology Services and Chief, Division of Surgical Oncology
• Susan Frank, RN, MSN – Director of Clinical Operations, Hillman Cancer Center
• Peter G. Ellis, MD – Director of Medical Oncology Network
• Dwight E. Heron, MD – Director of Radiation Oncology Services
• James D. Luketich, MD – Co-Director of Surgical Oncology Services and Director and Chief, Heart, Lung and Esophageal Surgical Institute
• Colleen McCabe Mantini, MPA – Director of Government Relations

UPCI Council