UPMC Hillman Cancer Center


The UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, previously titled the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, is a National Cancer Institute -designated Comprehensive Cancer Center located in the Hillman Cancer Center in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The only NCI-designated cancer center in Western Pennsylvania, Hillman is composed of collaborative academic and research efforts between the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and Carnegie Mellon University. Hillman provides clinical cancer care to some 74,000 patients treated at its facilities at both the flagship Hillman Cancer Center location in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh and at dozens of UPMC-affiliated sites throughout Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and a growing list of overseas locations. Founded in 1984, Hillman became the youngest cancer center in history to achieve NCI-designation, and as of 2007 received nearly $200 million in funding from the National Cancer Institute ranking it in the top ten of all cancer research institutes.

Cancer Institute

The Pittsburgh Cancer Institute was founded in 1984 under the direction of Ronald B. Herberman, MD. Hillman Cancer Center was formed from a partnership with Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and private physicians in 2002. Hillman remains the only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in Western Pennsylvania, and today is composed of 625 research faculty members specializing in disciplines ranging from cancer prevention and early detection to novel therapeutic discovery, survivorship, and end of life care. Most Hillman faculty maintain academic appointments at the University of Pittsburgh and physician-scientists have their clinical appointments through UPMC hospitals. However, some Hillman members are affiliated with the neighboring Carnegie Mellon University. Four target research areas of molecular and medical oncology at the institute include 1) the biological basis of cancer development and progression; 2) identification of new biomarkers for improved cancer detection and diagnosis; 3) the development of novel therapeutics for successful and comprehensive cancer treatment; and 4) establish and implement effect cancer prevention measures. Over the last five years, Hillman's 350 faculty members have published more than 4,500 publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Hillman is ranked 12th in funding from the National Cancer Institute. It has increased its federal research funding to a total of nearly $174 million in 2011; up from totals of $154 million in 2007, $149 million in 2004, and $120 million in 2001. These totals include three competitive Specialized Program of Research Excellence grants focusing on head and neck, lung, and skin cancers. Hillman works in tandem with UPMC Cancer Centers Network to translate the latest research advances to clinical application for patients. Hillman also offers a variety of education, training programs and fellowships, in conjunction with related schools within the University of Pittsburgh, for both new cancer researchers to experienced investigators. The current director of the UPCI and UPMC Cancer Centers is Nancy E. Davidson, MD.

Cancer center network

UPMC Hillman Cancer Center offers the latest advances in cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment to patients at UPMC-affiliated locations throughout the Pittsburgh region and abroad. The centers combine to create a network of more than 2,300 physicians, scientists, administrative staff, and other health care professionals that provide the latest care, technology, and treatments, as well as clinical trials, to over 36,000 patients each year. UPMC CancerCenter encompass 13 areas of expertise, each focusing on a specific type or treatment of cancer. These include programs devoted to melanoma, 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 UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Locations

The network works as a hub-and-satellite system of cancer care services at locations that are tied to the central hub and the flagship facility of the UPMC cancer center network, the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The UPMC network covers a geographic area of more than around greater Pittsburgh, comprising 180 affiliated oncologists at over 30 locations throughout Western Pennsylvania and Ohio and includes a growing list of international locations starting in Dublin and Waterford, Ireland and a radiotherapy center in Rome. In November, 2008, UPMC announced a partnership with GE Healthcare to open 25 additional cancer treatment centers across Europe and the Middle East over the next ten years.

Pittsburgh Locations

UPMC Hillman Cancer Center at UPMC Altoona, PA Altoona, PA

Locations West of Pittsburgh

The UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh is the flagship facility for the clinical services and research activities. The $130 million, 350,000-square-foot, 5-story facility, designed by Pittsburgh architectural firm IKM, opened in 2002 in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh. It is located directly across Centre Avenue from, and connected via a pedestrian bridge to, UPMC Shadyside hospital where cancer surgery and Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy are conducted. The Hillman Cancer Center building houses both a research pavilion and a clinical pavilion connected by a three-story atrium. The facility brings together 400 full-time researchers and clinicians and 185 physicians practicing in the UPMC Cancer Centers network. The clinical pavilion offers cancer prevention, risk assessment, detection, treatment, and stress and symptom management services including radiology services such as magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, computed tomography and positron emission tomography. It also includes waiting rooms equipped with televisions and play areas for children and access to a kitchen stocked with beverages and light refreshments. The outpatient clinic, known as The William Cooper Pavilion, honoring the oncologist who led the campaign for philanthropic support of the center, was designed by architectural firm Radelet McCarthy. The Hillman Cancer Center also offers other amenities for patients including valet parking, a patient and family education and information center, a garden and meditation with a granite fountain, a café, gift shop and a salon where patients can receive salon services and purchase wigs, hats, skin care products and prostheses.
In 2012, the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center opened the Mario Lemieux Center for Blood Cancers on the fourth floor of the building. The center is dedicated to former Pittsburgh Penguins hockey player Mario Lemieux, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1993 and was cured.
A prominent sculpture at the center is the bronze "Circle of Care" by Tuck Langland of Granger, Indiana.

Notable people associated with the Institute