The Breast Care Center at Baylor College of Medicine is a broad based, multidiscipiinary organization composed of investigators dedicated to exploring the biology of breast cancer, and through a better understanding of this biology, to improving cure rates and treatments for the disease. The strengths of the Center will complement, reinforce, and extend the goals of the NSABP. Over the past five years, we have established a clinical presence and infrastructure at Baylor College of Medicine which facilitates the recruitment of a wide variety of patients onto treatment studies. Along with our Breast Care Center, established in collaboration with The Methodist Hospital, we have also been successful in establishing a dedicated breast oncology clinic at Ben Taub General Hospital, a county hospital which serves a large number of disadvantaged and minority women with breast cancer, and are successfully recruiting from this population. Center investigators have developed a considerable expertise over the past twenty-five years in molecular markers of prognosis and prediction of response to therapy, and most recently have extended their efforts into high through-put genomic technologies. Through the combined strength of a busy, high volume clinical service and established clinical trial infrastructure, along with scientists and clinicians deeply experienced in translational and molecular marker research, we will be able to make a unique contribution towards the NSABP's goal of optimum, individualized treatment for all women with breast cancer.
