Fox Chase Cancer Center
Fox Chase Cancer Center, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a dedicated facility for cancer treatment and research, operating as one of the few hospitals in the U.S. exclusively focused on cancer care. Established in 1974 through the merger of the American Oncologic Hospital and the Institute for Cancer Research, Fox Chase has a rich history in oncology, noted for significant advancements such as the development of the hepatitis B vaccine, which helped reduce liver cancer incidence. The center comprises over eighty research laboratories organized into medical, basic, and population science divisions, with a strong emphasis on cancer prevention, early detection, and community outreach initiatives.
Fox Chase is involved in various collaborative programs, including a mobile mammography van and partnerships with community organizations to enhance cancer awareness and screening, particularly among underserved populations. The center is also a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, which supports advancements in cancer treatment and prevention across its member institutions. With facilities designed for clinical trials and specialized treatment programs, including a multidisciplinary pain management center, Fox Chase continues to lead in innovative cancer therapies, including immune cell therapy and personalized treatment plans.
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Fox Chase Cancer Center
DEFINITION: The Fox Chase Cancer Center is a cancer research facility and treatment hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The one-hundred-bed hospital of Fox Chase Cancer Center is one of the few hospitals in the United States devoted solely to cancer care.
History and founding: In 1974, the Fox Chase Cancer Center was formed when the American Oncologic Hospital combined with the Institute for Cancer Research. The American Oncologic Hospital, established in 1904, is notable as the first cancer hospital in the United States. The Institute for Cancer Research, founded in 1927, was established for basic research of normal and abnormal cell growth. The Institute for Cancer Research (ICR), later known as the Fox Chase Cancer Center, contributed significantly to the field of cancer research and treatment. Many important discoveries, including the identification of vitamin B12 by Mary Bennett in 1946, were made in the Fox Chase research laboratories. The Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine was awarded to Baruch Blumberg in 1976 for his discovery of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the development of the HBV vaccine. Considered the first anticancer vaccine, the HBV vaccine reduced the incidence of liver cancer.
Fox Chase Cancer Center established the Partners program in 1986 to unite a group of community hospitals with the center to make the most current cancer treatments available in a wide geographic area. In 1995, Fox Chase Cancer Center was a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a program of twenty-one nonprofit academic centers working on cancer research, treatment, and prevention. This network has increased to thirty-three in the twenty-first century. The Research Institute for Cancer Prevention was opened at Fox Chase in 2000 and includes the Prevention Pavilion of Fox Chase, where individuals have access to prevention-oriented resources.
Facilities: The Fox Chase Cancer Center research facilities and hospital are in the northeast section of Philadelphia. The hospital is one of the few in the United States that is solely devoted to the care of cancer patients. Its Partners program includes a group of community hospitals in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, where patients can receive treatment closer to home yet still have access to the most up-to-date cancer treatment based on the translation of cancer research results. The program also provides access to participation in clinical trials. Other collaborative programs with which Fox Chase is involved are a bone marrow transplantation program with Temple University, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, and the Oncology Physicians Network (OPN). Fox Chase operates a mobile mammography van as part of its corporate and community outreach program; additional outreach programs provide screening services for other cancers.
More than eighty research laboratories are part of Fox Chase. Research programs are structured in three divisions: medical science, basic science, and population science. The medical science research programs include breast cancer, developmental therapeutics, ovarian cancer, and prostate cancer. The basic science research programs include biomolecular structure and function, cellular and developmental biology, genome stability, immunobiology, tumor cell biology, and viral pathogenesis. Fox Chase’s population science program studies groups of people with high risk for cancer, works to build approaches for risk reduction, and is involved with cancer prevention trials; the specific research programs include a cancer prevention and control program and a human genetics program.
Specialization: Cancer prevention and early detection of cancers are Fox Chase priorities; patient services include the Prostate Risk Assessment Program as well as risk assessment programs for familial melanoma and gastrointestinal tumors. The Internet Risk Assessment Program was developed at Fox Chase to address the need for risk assessment and counseling of family members who are geographically separated. Cancer prevention and screening programs are offered by Fox Chase outreach services at low or no cost to the community. Community partners, such as the Black Women’s Health Alliance and local churches, work with Fox Chase to reach underserved minority populations. The outreach programs at Fox Chase also provide cancer awareness, screening, and education services in corporate settings. Fox Chase provides multidisciplinary treatment centers for adult patients with solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. A multidisciplinary pain management center is located at Fox Chase, and the Lippincott Hospice Program provides home-based care to terminally ill adult cancer patients and their families. An additional area of renown is a Fox Chase collaboration with Temple University Health System, forming the Fox Chase-Temple Bone Marrow Transplant Program. A special clinical studies wing of the hospital has patient beds for individuals enrolled in phase I clinical trials, which enroll small numbers of individuals for assessment of the safety of a new drug treatment and the determination of its maximum safe dose and optimal dosing schedule. Fox Chase is known for its oncology nursing and has achieved American Nurse Credentialing Center Magnet status.
As the twenty-first century progressed, Fox Chase continued to expand its programs. New research facilities studied molecular therapeutics and cancer epigenetics. Fox Chase increased its participation in national clinical trials with the aim of bringing more personalized treatment plans to its patients. Fox Chase also continued to update its imaging technology and explored increased options for robotic surgical techniques. Fox Chase has been at the forefront of the study of immune cell therapy in the treatment of certain cancers and established a Center for Translational Research, which aimed to relay the findings of clinical trials into patient treatment programs.
Bibliography
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