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KU Cancer Center hopes to achieve National Cancer Institute ‘comprehensive’ status

By Madison Parry

The University of Kansas Cancer Center announced at the beginning of the month plans to submit an application next year to renew designation with the National Cancer Institute, hoping to gain the institute’s highest ranking of "comprehensive" status which could bring in increased grant funding.

In the hopes of renewing its National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation, The University of Kansas Cancer Center announced Oct. 1 that it plans to submit an application to NCI next year to attain “comprehensive” status.

This status is the NCI’s highest ranking, and with it can open doors to increased grant funding for the KU Cancer Center, as some federal research grants are available only to centers with this designation.

Along with increased grant opportunity, patients treated at NCI-designated centers can participate in clinical trials not available anywhere else, according to a new release from KU Medical Center. Patients that have the option to be treated at designated centers reportedly have a 25 percent greater chance of survival than patients treated elsewhere.

While KU Cancer Center has been NCI-designated since 2012, NCI-designated cancer centers must apply for renewal every five years.

The last time the center’s designation was renewed was in 2017, funding bumping up 11 percent though not making the mark to awarded comprehensive status.

KU Cancer Center is one of 71 NCI-designated centers in the country and the only one in the region.