James Cancer Hospital
Located in Columbus, Ohio, the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center James Cancer Hospital (OSUCCC-James) is the third-largest cancer hospital in the nation and has been ranked one of the top cancer hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for 25 years in a row. It is the only cancer program in the United States that is also aligned with a nationally ranked academic health center and an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center on the campus of one of the nation’s largest public universities.[2]
Patients seeking care for a wide range of cancers, including lung cancer and malignant pleural mesothelioma, will receive compassionate state-of-the-art treatment delivered via a multidisciplinary approach and supported through groundbreaking research.
Facts about the James Cancer Hospital[2]
The James Cancer Hospital is the only cancer program in the United States that features a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center aligned with a nationally ranked academic health center and a freestanding cancer hospital on the campus of one of the nation’s largest public universities.
The OSUCCC – James has been designated as an NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center since 1976.
It is one of only a few centers funded by the NCI to conduct both phase I and phase II clinical trials on novel anticancer agents provided by the NCI.
The James is one of the top cancer hospitals in the nation as ranked by U.S. News & World Report for 25 years.
With 21 floors, more than 1.1 million square feet, and 356 inpatient beds, The James is the third-largest cancer hospital in the nation.
In 2021, the James reported over 15,000 inpatient admissions, over 700,000 outpatient visits, over 60,000 patients enrolled in total cancer care, and was running more than 600 clinical trials.
History
The James Cancer Hospital recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, but its story dates back much farther than the day that the hospital opened its doors. The facility was the lifelong dream of Dr. Arthur G. James, a lifelong Ohio resident who was the son of a coal miner. Dr. James worked his way through Ohio State University and was accepted into the College of Medicine, earning his degree in 1937. He completed a medical internship at the University of Chicago, and that is where he first became interested in treating cancer. He completed a surgical internship at Duke University in North Carolina before returning to Ohio State for a three-year surgical residency. He then was awarded a fellowship at Memorial Hospital in New York City, one of the few cancer hospitals in the nation at the time.
Just six weeks after arriving at Memorial Hospital, Dr. James was called into service for World War II. He returned and completed his fellowship after the war, then went back to Ohio State and began a career as a surgeon. Over the years he set a goal of opening a cancer hospital in Ohio, only to have his proposals repeatedly rejected in favor of other projects. But in 1976 the National Cancer Institute designated The Ohio State University as one of fewer than 20 Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and Dr. James proposed his idea yet again. After taking influential community leaders to see both MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, the group formed the Ohio Cancer Foundation, and the Ohio legislature passed a $40 million appropriation bill for the construction of a cancer hospital. Ground was broken in 1983 and the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute opened in July of 1990.
Mesothelioma and Lung Cancer Care at James Cancer Hospital
OSUCCC-James’ mesothelioma specialists work collaboratively to create treatment plans and therapeutic approaches to suit each individual patient’s genetic profile, as well as their condition and personal needs. Each newly diagnosed patient is offered an on-site comprehensive evaluation and treatment options review with experts from the multidisciplinary team. These meetings are scheduled on the same day to minimize inconvenience and stress for the patient and to ensure optimal communication between medical and surgical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and the rest of the team.[3]
Many lung cancer and pleural mesothelioma patients seeking treatment are offered procedures that are not available anywhere else, as well as access to advanced clinical trials. These patients have access to both pleurectomy and decortication and extrapleural pneumonectomy surgical procedures, as well as pleurodesis. Oral and systemic chemotherapy is available, as are eternal beam radiation therapy and imaging-guided radiation therapy (IMRT), stereotactic radiosurgery, and the use of a Varian TrueBeam Linear Accelerator. The team at OSUCCC-James is also knowledgeable in the use of innovative targeted therapies that can be used alone or in combination with other treatments.
Patients with peritoneal mesothelioma are treated by a specialized team that uses highly targeted treatment plans based on each patient’s molecular and biological makeup. Options include wide local excision surgery, chemotherapy, and the combination of surgery and chemotherapy known as hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy in which a surgical oncologist first removes all of the cancer tissue that can be seen, and then applies heated anticancer drugs into the abdomen to kill microscopic cancer cells left behind. The team also makes use of radiation therapy and targeted therapies depending on the tumor’s makeup, type, and stage.
Research
The care provided at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital is supported by research conducted at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. With nearly 300 researchers representing 11 of the 15 colleges at Ohio State University as well as from Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, the center focuses on five interactive research programs: Cancer Biology, Cancer Control, Leukemia Research, Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention, and Translational Therapeutics.[1]
Many of the James Cancer Hospital’s mesothelioma specialists are members of the Translational Therapeutics team, whose goal is “to translate advances in solid tumor molecular biology and promising preclinical studies into innovative clinical trials to improve the state of the art in the diagnosis and treatment of solid tumors.”[3] Many of the clinical trials conducted at OSUCCC are not available anywhere else, as the center is one of only a few NCI-funded comprehensive cancer centers able to conduct phase 1, 2, and 3 clinical trials of NCI-sponsored novel cancer drugs.
Notable Staff and Mesothelioma Specialists
OSUCCC-James has a team of world-renowned experts in the care of malignancies of the chest and abdomen, including pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma and lung cancer. The multidisciplinary team is made up of medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, and radiation oncologists, including the Director of the James Thoracic Center medical oncologist Dr. David P. Carbone, and Director of the Division of Thoracic Surgery Dr. Robert E. Merritt. Dr. Jordan M. Cloyd is a surgical oncologist and specialist in both neoadjuvant therapy and intraperitoneal chemotherapy.
The James Cancer Hospital is one of the nation’s top facilities for the treatment of malignancies caused by asbestos, including pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer, as well as for treatment of patients with malignant peritoneal mesothelioma.
