Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center — the world’s oldest and largest private cancer center — has devoted more than a century to patient care and innovative research, making significant contributions to better understand, diagnose, and treat cancer. As one of the nation’s premier cancer centers, Memorial Sloan-Kettering is one of only 41 institutions in the United States that have been designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers by the National Cancer Institute.
Today, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has more than 12,000 employees, including 834 hospital attendings and 143 Sloan-Kettering Institute members. In 2012, 24,486 patients were admitted to Memorial Hospital and a total of 535,900 outpatient visits were accommodated at their Manhattan and regional facilities, whether they could afford it or not – Memorial Sloan-Kettering treated them.
For more than a century, Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s sole focus has been the conquest of cancer — and the record of success in the laboratory and in the development of new and more-effective ways to diagnose and treat the disease that attests to their position as the nation’s premier cancer center. Everyone is now reaping the benefits of decades of research directed at answering the critical questions about cancer. They remain committed to making even greater progress against cancer in the years to come.
New technologies, developments in genetics, a wealth of knowledge about biochemistry and cell biology, and exciting drug discoveries make this a time of revolutionary change in the ways we think about how to fight the constellation of diseases that are cancer.
In this era of unprecedented opportunities, Memorial Sloan-Kettering has strengths few centers can rival. Experienced and energetic leadership and a passionately dedicated staff — including internationally recognized clinicians and scientists — work collaboratively to seek bold new approaches to understanding and treating cancer. Specialized resources allow us to rapidly translate discoveries made in our laboratories into effective therapies for patients.
Along with patient care and education, research is a key component of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s mission. They have investigators who specialize in every aspect of cancer research, from basic studies of cells’ inner workings to late-stage clinical trials of new drugs. Although their primary goal is to discover as much as they can about the underpinnings of cancer and apply this knowledge toward improvements in cancer care, many discoveries made here have implications for other conditions affecting human health.