With our seven locations across the region, this designation impacts the ability to provide world-class cancer care close to home.
Steven D. Leach, MDDartmouth Cancer Center was recently re-designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). A division of the National Institutes of Health, NCI bestows the Comprehensive Cancer Center designation to less than 60 of the 1,500 cancer centers nationwide. Founded in 1972, Dartmouth Cancer Center is one of NCI’s longest continually designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. Its renewed designation includes a grant in the amount of $13 million over five years.
NCI-Designated Cancer Centers are characterized by scientific excellence and the capability to integrate diverse research approaches to focus on the problem of cancer. Comprehensive Cancer Centers are recognized for their scientific leadership, resources, and the depth and breadth of their research in basic, clinical, and/or prevention, cancer control, and population science, as well as substantial transdisciplinary research that bridges these scientific areas. There are currently 57 nationally, and Dartmouth Cancer Center is the only Comprehensive Cancer Center in northern New England and one of just three in New England overall (the others being Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center in Massachusetts and Yale Cancer Center in Connecticut).
“I couldn't be prouder of all our teams at Dartmouth Cancer Center as we enter our second half-century of continuous NCI designation,” said Steven M. Leach, MD, director of Dartmouth Cancer Center. “Our deep integration across Dartmouth Health and the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, our groundbreaking research that transcends disciplines, and, most importantly, our unparalleled bond with the communities we serve, makes our Cancer Center truly unique among this elite group. With our seven locations across the region, this designation impacts the ability to provide world-class cancer care close to home.”
NCI-designated Cancer Centers must apply to renew their designation every five years. Dartmouth Cancer Center’s re-application process started nearly four years ago, and included an 1,850-page application and site visit by NCI in April 2024.
Dartmouth Cancer Center’s renewed NCI designation extends through November 2029.
About Dartmouth Cancer Center
Since 1972, Dartmouth Cancer Center (DCC) has combined groundbreaking and advanced cancer research at Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine with award-winning, personalized, compassionate, patient-centered cancer care and clinical trials. At its flagship location at Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, with 14 locations across New Hampshire and Vermont, DCC is one of fewer than 60 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers nationally. Each year, DCC manages 74,000 appointments, treats more than 4,500 newly diagnosed patients, and currently offers more than 240 active clinical trials. DCC remains committed to excellence, outreach and education. DCC strives to create new knowledge and impact, accelerate integrated and collaborative research to prevent and cure cancer, enhance survivorship and promote cancer-related health equity. Learn more at cancer.dartmouth.edu.
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and largest private employer, serves patients across New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,300 providers in nearly every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH. Its network of hospitals, outpatient centers, clinics and home care facilities, spans a broad geographical area. Year after year, DHMC is named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is consistently recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, northern New England’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers and one of less than than 60 total nationally; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital (Children’s Hospital at DHMC/CHaD) and more than 20 locations around the region; eight member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont, Hampstead, and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Dartmouth Health Home Care; Dartmouth Health Connected Care Center for Telehealth, serving patients as far away as Texas; and more than 30 primary and multi-specialty clinics across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its partnership with Dartmouth College, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and the White River Junction VA Medical Center, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials with international impact. Dartmouth Health and its more than 16,000 employees are committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in the communities it serves and to providing every patient with exceptional, state-of-the-art, personalized care. Learn more at dartmouth-health.org.