Duke Cancer Center Mesothelioma Treatment Institute
Located in Durham, North Carolina, is an acclaimed National Cancer Institute (NCI) Comprehensive Cancer Center: the Duke Cancer Center.
The Duke Cancer Center is one of forty institutions to receive this designation, signifying it maintains the absolute highest level of education, basic science, patient care, cancer prevention, and clinical research.
Seeing as lung cancer is one of the deadliest strains of cancer, its treatment and diagnosis are a focus at the Duke Cancer Center.
Many world renown lung cancer specialists call this center home, such as David H. Harpole Jr. Dr. Harpole is the current authority in malignant lung diseases, general thoracic surgery, thoracic oncology, and mesothelioma, acting as the vice chief of the Division of Surgical Services. Other renown specialists include Betty C. Tong, thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon with special interest in chest ailments such as lung cancer, mesothelioma, and esophageal cancer, and Jennifer L. Garst, an oncology specialist with an emphasis on rare chest and lung malignancies, such as mesothelioma.
Clinical Trials and Research
As with all types of cancer, research on lung malignancies such as mesothelioma is essential. At the Duke Cancer Center, several Phase I, II, and III-level protocols are currently underway. One example of these cutting edge mesothelioma trials is “An Open-Label Clinical Trial of MORAb-009 in Combination with Pemetrexed and Cisplatin in Subjects with Mesothelioma.”
Part of the Duke University Health System, the Duke Cancer Center focuses on narrowing the divide between cancer treatment and cancer research. Duke manages to accomplish this by including an enormous number of cancer specialists, including over three-hundred researchers and physicians and five-hundred clinical staff members. The underlying aim of this collective, which was started in 1972, is to improve cancer research while also improving the patient’s access to the new medical science discoveries.
In the end, the Duke Cancer Center is at the helm of all cancer-related engagements at both Duke University Medical Center and Duke University. This accelerates and spearheads the development and delivery of brand new approaches to cancer treatment and diagnosis.
Ranking fifth in the 2012 U.S. News & World Report survey of the best graduate schools, the Duke University School of Medicine is one of the most accomplished medical schools in the world. The Duke Cancer Center is one of the world’s largest and most accomplished cancer research and clinical trial battlegrounds, accepting more than six thousand new cancer patients every year.
Duke Cancer Center’s success is intimately tied to the Duke Oncology Network. This network is a collection of local, regional, and national cancer programs, as well as other oncology-related services. These conglomerates provide health professionals and cancer specialists with direct access to forward-thinking research, education, and training.