New Brunswick – Recognizing the high level of research and treatment by the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Senate President Steve Sweeney joined with doctors, researchers, nurses and officials at the institute for the official announcement renewing the facility’s designation as a “Comprehensive Care Center.”
The prestigious designation by the National Cancer Institute, which is held by only a few dozen other centers across the nation and is the only one in New Jersey, is granted competitively to institutions characterized by the highest level of scientific excellence in cancer research and the ability to translate research discoveries into novel treatments. It includes a $15.1 million federal grant.
“I want to congratulate the Rutgers Cancer Institute for a designation that recognizes your high level of research, treatment and care,” said Senator Sweeney (D-Gloucester/Salem/Cumberland). “There is not one person in this room that doesn’t know someone who has cancer. The institute is helping to save the lives of our friends, coworkers, family and loved ones.”
To gain the national designation, the NCI’s highest ranking, the institute had to meet rigorous criteria in cancer care, research, prevention and education, and demonstrate an added depth and breadth of research, as well as substantial transdisciplinary research that bridges these scientific areas.
The state annually appropriates $31 million to the institute.
“The awarding of this grant and re-designation by the NCI, as New Jersey’s only such center, reaffirms the value Rutgers Cancer Institute provides to our state through research, treatment, prevention and education,” said Rutgers Cancer Institute Director Steven K. Libutti, MD, FACS, who is also the senior vice president of oncology services at RWJBarnabas Health. “Together with RWJBarnabas Health, we are committed to providing integrated, cutting-edge cancer care to those in New Jersey and the region. This grant serves as a further investment into that work, and I am proud to lead our internationally recognized researchers and clinicians in these efforts which improve the health of those in our state and beyond.”