Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, D.C.
The Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in the nation’s capital. The facility is dedicated to the principle of “care for the whole person,” and this is evidenced by the approach taken by its renowned Interdisciplinary Lung Cancer Clinic, where patients diagnosed with lung cancer and malignant pleural mesothelioma receive high-quality, compassionate care. The center applies a multidisciplinary approach to treatment, combining scientific discovery, education, and clinical care.
Among the many innovative programs being undertaken at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center are its Experimental Therapeutics Program, which is working to reduce the burden of cancer through the investigation of drug development and optimal treatment approaches, and the Molecular Oncology Program, which seeks to identify targets and cell-signaling pathways that differentiate cancer from other cell types to improve the effectiveness of novel treatments.
Facts about the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center
Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center is Washington, D.C.’s only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. It works in clinical partnership with physicians at MedStar Health’s, Washington Cancer Institute and partners in a research consortium with John Theurer Cancer Center of Hackensack Meridian Health in Bergen County, New Jersey.[1]
The center was established in 1970 and is named for Vince Lombardi, the legendary football coach who was treated for cancer at Georgetown University Hospital.
The cancer center has grown from a small clinic to a 240,000-square-foot clinic and research space offering state-of-the-art care.
History
The Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center is part of Georgetown University Medical Center, which opened its doors as a 33-bed facility in 1893. The medical center’s formation followed the establishment of Georgetown University Medical School in 1851. The hospital was originally staffed by the Sisters of St. Francis, who later withdrew their ministry at Georgetown and were replaced by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in 1946. At that time a new 400-bed hospital adjoining the Georgetown University School of Medicine was built, and by 1948 the facility was viewed as a center for excellence in healthcare.
In 1970, Georgetown University Medical Center approved the establishment of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, to be named in honor of Vincent T. Lombardi. Lombardi had been a legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers and the Washington Redskins, and had been treated for cancer at Georgetown University Hospital. The cancer center was established with funds from the university, as well as from the federal government and through private funding. In 1974 it became the 16th National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center.[2]
Mesothelioma Treatment at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center
In partnership with MedStar Health’s Washington Cancer Institute, Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center established its Interdisciplinary Lung Cancer Clinic Team to provide treatment for patients with lung cancer and other malignancies, including malignant pleural mesothelioma. The team takes a comprehensive approach that involves experts from multiple disciplines and specialties including medical and radiation oncologists, thoracic surgeons, and pulmonologists, all supported by diagnostic and interventional radiologists, pathologists, clinical and research nursing coordinators, case managers, social workers, and palliative care specialists. This approach provides both a well-coordinated treatment plan but also allows patients to meet with a robust team on a single day instead of having to schedule multiple appointments. As treatment proceeds, the team meets once a week at a lung cancer tumor board to review the patient’s status and make any necessary adjustments to ensure the best possible outcome.[3]
The Interdisciplinary Lung Cancer Clinic Team’s goal is to ensure that patients diagnosed with mesothelioma, pleural cancers, or lung cancer are seeing the right clinician at the right time, getting the right testing, and being provided with all of the information that they need about their diagnosis and treatment plan.
The facility also offers treatment for patients diagnosed with malignant peritoneal mesothelioma, including intraoperative heated chemotherapy/hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) in combination with cytoreductive surgery.
Research
Research is at the heart of Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center’s mission, and to that end the facility’s scientists and physicians work in collaboration with other institutions to expand its abilities and reach. It has a research consortium with John Theurer Cancer Center that has been fully recognized by the National Cancer Institute, and as part of its clinical partnership with MedStar Health, it serves as the research engine for the MedStar Georgetown Cancer Institute, which provides patients in the region with more opportunities to access clinical trials of new therapies and technologies.
Notable Staff and Mesothelioma Specialists
Mesothelioma and lung cancer patients seeking care at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center benefit from the expertise of many esteemed medical professionals, including medical oncologist Dr. Stephen Liu, who is the facility’s Director of Thoracic Oncology and Head of Developmental Therapeutics; thoracic surgeon Dr. Marc Margolis; Director of Interventional Pulmonology Dr. Eric Dolven Anderson; and surgical oncologist Dr. Chukwuemeka U. Ihemelandu, who performs CRS/HIPEC surgery on patients diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma.
Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center offers expert treatment and care to patients diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma and lung cancer.
