MUSC’s Hollings Cancer Center awarded top designation

MUSC’s Hollings Cancer Center was named a cancer center by the National Cancer Institute, becoming the only one in the state and the 64th in the country with this designation.

The announcement was made at Hollings today with Sen. Lindsay Graham, former Sen. Fritz Hollings and Rep. Henry Brown along with MUSC President Ray Greenberg and Hollings director Andrew Kraft.

“It is a distinction earned over many years through collaboration and innovation by dedicated researchers, clinicians and staff throughout Hollings Cancer Center and MUSC,” Kraft said. “Our citizens don’t have to leave the state to find the most advanced research and protocols from an NCI center – we have one right here in our back yard.”

The designation comes with more than $7 million in grant money to sustain and continue research at Hollings. It recognizes Hollings’ scientific excellence and its leadership in developing cutting-edge treatments and integrating research approaches that focus on cancer.

“The Hollings Cancer Center will now take its place among an elite group of institutions in the major leagues of cancer research,” Graham said.

Hollings Cancer Center, named after former Sen. Fritz Hollings, was created in 1993 and has about 80,000 patient visits a year. Other NCI-designated cancer centers include the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

The National Cancer Institute was created by Congress in 1937 as part of the National Cancer Act to lead and organize cancer research.