The Masonic Cancer Center (MCC) is an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center dedicated to cancer research, education, and patient care for the citizens of Minnesota and the surrounding region. Since the time of the first award in 1997, there has been tremendous growth of the membership and research base. In 2013, there are 240 members, up from 225 in 2007 and 98 in 1997. Nationally peer-reviewed support increased from approximately $86 million in 2007 to more than $100 million in 2012. Total MCC research support in 2012 was more than $112M. In 2010, the Minnesota Masonic Charities made a transformational philanthropic donation of $65M to be spent over 15 years; this has enabled us to enhance faculty recruitment and support, increase the number of pilot projects, and build on translational research efforts. The MCC is organized into 7 programs that focus on specific scientific themes: Prevention and Etiology, Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention, Genetic Mechanisms of Cancer, Tumor Microenvironment, Immunology, Cell Signaling, and Transplant Biology and Therapy. These programs are supported by 9 shared resources. The past funding period has seen increased emphasis on developing our translational pipeline. Several resources have been put into place to support this effort and to better connect the basic programmatic research with the clinic. These resources include a Cancer Experimental Therapeutics Initiative to increase the number of investigator-initiated clinical trials at MCC, and the formation of translational working groups that bring together researchers, clinicians, and others in the oncology community to solve problems in organ-site-specific cancers. We have also established several mechanisms to increase the involvement of the community, and particularly the underserved populations in our catchment area, in clinical research. The MCC is a successful matrix organization in a large public research university that engages its faculty to focus on the problem of cancer. Our last period of support has been characterized growth, stability in our leadership, enhanced engagement of our community, and creation of several new cancer focused initiatives.
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