Cancer Treatment and Research at the University of Southern California (USC)

The USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center (USC/NCCC) in Los Angeles offers cancer treatment and education services to area residents, as well as to cancer patients from all regions of the United States and around the world. The Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) is also a national center for advanced cancer research and wide ranging clinical trials. The USC/NCCC is an integral part of USC's Keck School of Medicine, and it is staffed by nearly 200 of the medical school's faculty physicians and research scientists. Additionally, the USC Cancer Center is aided by various scientists and health professionals from other USC schools, including the College of Letters, and the Arts and Sciences departments.

The USC/NCCC is one of 41 such facilities in the country, each a result of legislation passed in 1971 that was a direct result of lobbying efforts put forth by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). This legislation was the National Cancer Act, and it gave birth to the NCI plan to establish a network of comprehensive cancer treatment centers that would benefit from an affiliation with America's major universities. A combination of federal and private funding resources allowed the USC/NCCC to provide the required treatment and research facilities to achieve the NCI's CCC designation in 1973, when the USC/NCCC became one of the first eight of these NCI accredited facilities in the country.

Patient Care at the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center

The Kenneth Norris Jr. Cancer Hospital: This 60 bed facility offers both inpatient and outpatient cancer treatment while hosting wide ranging cancer research programs. Cancer patients benefit from the immediate proximity to numerous USC/NCCC research initiatives that deliver the latest in cancer fighting therapies to those being treated at the USC Cancer Center. This treatment/research affiliation allows a select group of cancer patients to participate in the many ongoing clinical trials that offer the potential of new and effective cancer fighting drugs and therapies.
The USC University Hospital: Faculty physicians from the Keck School of Medicine staff this 441 bed private referral, teaching, and research hospital. The hospital opened its doors in 1991 and offers cancer patients advanced treatments and specialized surgical procedures that are not typically found in many cancer treatment hospitals outside of the USC medical complex. The hospital continues to expand its services to meet an increased demand for advanced forms of cancer treatment, and the recent completion of a 10-story addition will help the facility to better serve the cancer patient community.
Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA): This important arm of the USC/NCCC has been affiliated with the Keck School of Medicine for 72 years, and it has a 40 year history of treating infants, children, and adolescents who suffer from cancer or blood diseases. CHLA hosts the largest hematology and oncology treatment program in the nation, and the research department at CHLA studies a wide variety of pediatric cancer and blood diseases. Additionally, USC/NCCC participates in the Children's Oncology Group (COG), an organization made up of over 5,000 oncologists and research scientists from every pediatric cancer treatment program in the country. Collectively, the COG is responsible for the treatment of more than 90 percent of all children who are stricken with cancer or related blood diseases in all of North America.

Advanced Treatments and Services

USC/NCCC offers its patients a full complement of traditional cancer support services, such as hospice affiliations and family counseling services. The USC Cancer Center also offers advanced and innovative cancer services such as:

Cancer genetics services: Genetic counselors work with individuals who have a higher genetic risk of certain types of cancers. These counselors endeavor to identify and quantify various risk factors in order to better manage future patient care.
Cyber knife: The USC Cancer Center was one of the first in the nation to utilize advanced robotic and enhanced imaging technology in the radiation treatment of certain types of cancers.
Image Enhancement: A response to the negative feelings that often accompany a cancer patient's change in appearance, such as hair loss or changes in the complexion. The USC Cancer Center works with makeup artists and wig stylists who intervene to give a patient an increased sense of well-being about their physical appearance.
Men's and Women's health: Health professionals and physicians offer patients information and medical treatments that deal with the gender specific and reproductive implications of cancer.

Future Developments at USC/NCCC

The cancer treatment and research programs offered by the USC Cancer Center continue to grow, and part of that expansion is the recent completion of the Harlyne J. Norris Cancer Research Tower that opened its doors in April of 2007. The 10-story, 172,000 square foot addition joins the original USC Norris Building, Ezralow Family Research Tower, and the Norman Topping Research tower.

The latest addition to the USC/NCCC medical complex is a 317 bed addition to the CHLA that is now under construction and has a projected completion date in 2009. The children's hospital expansion will be built around the H. Russell and Jeanne R. Smith Research Tower, and proponents of the CHLA expansion claim that the new facility will offer the finest medical and surgical treatment services for cancer stricken children in the United States. As with all of the cancer treatment, education, and research programs offered by the USC Cancer Center, funding is provided by both private donations and federal CCC allocations.

Contact the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center

The main operator phone number is (323) 865-3000, and patients of the cancer center who wish to reach their physician may also call 800-USC-CARE. To learn more about the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, please visit their website at http://www.uscnorris.com/.

USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
1441 Eastlake Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90033
Google map to USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center

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