2024 marks Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center’s 50th year of National Cancer Institute designation. It achieved designation as a Cancer Center in 1974 and then became one of the first designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation in 1990.

“This is such an important milestone,” says Ruben Mesa, MD, FACP, executive director of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center and president of Atrium Health Levine Cancer. “I think about the 50 years of impact that this center has had on decreasing the burden of cancer, not only in this community but also around the world.”

But what does it mean to be an NCI-designated Cancer Center? What makes one a Comprehensive Cancer Center? And most importantly, what difference does this make for patients?

Ruben Mesa, MD

“It is certainly inspiring to reflect on all the advancements in cancer care over the past 50 years. At the same time, we look forward to seeing what can be accomplished in the next 50 years.”

- Rueben Mesa, MD, FACP, executive director of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center and president of Atrium Health Levine Cancer

Seeking Answers and Finding Hope

The NCI Cancer Center Program was created in 1971 as part of the National Cancer Act. To become an NCI-designated Cancer Center, a center has to meet specific, rigorous standards in one of three areas:

  • Cancer research
  • Cancer prevention
  • Clinical services to patients

“The vision was that these would be centers of excellence for cancer research but also advance cancer care and cancer education,” says Mesa, who is also the vice dean of cancer programs and professor of hematology and oncology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Studies show that patients who receive treatment at an NCI-designated cancer center can have better outcomes and survival rates than patients at other cancer centers.

To achieve NCI designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center, a center must meet the standards for all three areas. In addition to providing services to cancer patients, those centers have scientists and physicians performing lab research and participating in clinical trials – including multicenter trials that recruit patients across the country. They also study population science, cancer prevention and cancer control. Today, there are more than 1,000 cancer programs in the U.S., but only 57 are NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers. Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist is one of three in North Carolina and the only one in western NC.

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As part of the integrated Atrium Health Levine Cancer program, which combines Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center and Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute, there are more resources than ever to help patients get the latest therapies, treatments and strategies for prevention and survivorship. With its innovation and research fueled by the School of Medicine, more than 500 clinical trials are currently available for patients with different types and stages of cancer.

“As an academic learning health system, our scientists work directly with our clinicians, the NCI, other academic institutions and industry partners to expand access to clinical trials and rapidly discover new and effective treatments and provide them to our patients, often months or years ahead of non-NCI cancer centers,” Mesa says.

A History of Research and Healing

Even before it received NCI designation, the Comprehensive Cancer Center was a leader in cancer care and research. Milestones include:

  • 1957 – First in North Carolina to use cobalt to treat cancer patients.
  • 1969 – First in the U.S. to use ultrasound to detect prostate cancer.
  • 1972 – Cancer Center at Wake Forest University School of Medicine formed.
  • 1974 – Designated as a cancer center by NCI.
  • 1982 – Designated as an NCI community clinical oncology program research base (precursor to NCORP).
  • 1990 – Designated as a comprehensive cancer center by NCI.
  • 1999 – Received $2 million NCI grant to establish the Wake Forest Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) Research Base.
  • 1999 – First in North Carolina and fifth in the nation to use Gamma Knife, an alternative to traditional brain surgery that uses tiny beams of radiation instead of incisions and doesn’t harm healthy tissue. It was one of the few medical centers funded by the NCI to conduct brain cancer research using the therapy.
  • 1999 – Wake Forest University School of Medicine was one of five NCI-funded institutions to conduct clinical trials of GliaSite Radiation Therapy System, which uses a balloon catheter to deliver a liquid source of radiation to treat brain cancer.
  • 2001 – First in the world to use the newly FDA-approved GliaSite.
  • 2004 – The freestanding outpatient cancer center building opened with new surgical oncology, radiation oncology and medical oncology clinics.
  • 2010 – School of Medicine conducted initial feasibility study with University of California San Francisco for the DigniCap scalp cooling system, which helps prevent chemotherapy-related hair loss.
  • 2014 – Received $18 million NCI grant and transitions CCOP to the NCI Community Research Program (NCORP) research base, one of only 7 funded research bases in the U.S.
  • 2016 – First in the nation to offer the DigniCap system to patients.
  • 2020 – Strategic partnership with Atrium Health announced.
  • 2021 – NCI site visit reported $28.4 million in total direct funding and 49,263 clinical trial accruals.
  • 2022-2023 – Integrated with Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute to launch inclusive Atrium Health Levine Cancer program and named Dr. Ruben Mesa as executive director.
  • 2023 – Total direct funding has grown to $33.8 million.

The Comprehensive Cancer Center also has 13 disease-oriented teams that promote clinical and translational research relevant to tumor types most commonly seen in the geographic catchment area. Additionally, the center supports four Centers of Excellence, which help coordinate expansion of research once the translational research reaches a certain level.

Disease-Oriented Teams

  • Brain
  • Breast
  • Cancer control and survivorship
  • Gastrointestinal
  • Genitourinary
  • Gynecologic oncology
  • Head and neck
  • Hematologic malignancies
  • Lung
  • Melanoma
  • Pediatric oncology
  • Precision medicine and phase 1
  • Sarcoma

Centers of Excellence

  • Brain Tumor
  • Breast Cancer
  • Prostate Cancer
  • Tobacco Control

“It is certainly inspiring to reflect on all the advancements in cancer care over the past 50 years,” Mesa said. “At the same time, we look forward to seeing what can be accomplished in the next 50 years.”