Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, Tennessee
As the center that integrates all of Vanderbilt Health’s cancer experts and resources, the Nashville, Tennessee-based Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center consists of more than 280 members dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancers of all types. The facility operates using a team approach to cancer treatment supported by pioneering research and science and offers comprehensive services to meet the physical, psychological, emotional, and practical needs of patients after treatment.
Facts about the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center[6]
The Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in the state of Tennessee and is the only cancer center in Tennessee considered a top-performing cancer hospital by U.S. News & World Report.
After achieving NCI designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram was invited to become a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.
The facility boasts a team of more than 200 physicians providing care for more than 7,000 new cancer patients a year.
Vanderbilt-Ingram records more than 180,000 outpatient visits per year.
There are always more than 350 clinical trials in progress at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.
Vanderbilt-Ingram is one of the only cancer centers in the country to offer a comprehensive program for cancer survivors, regardless of age, type of cancer, or where they received their oncology treatment.
The cancer center is ranked 9th in the country for NCI grant funding, receiving over $69 million in grants and working with a total research base of over $150 million in research funding from public and private sources.
History
Vanderbilt Health began in 1874 when the University of Nashville’s School of Medicine was incorporated into Vanderbilt University to form the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Over the years the facility expanded significantly as grants worth hundreds of thousands of dollars created clinical research facilities and opened departments dedicated to pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and Anesthesiology. The Vanderbilt Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was the first in the nation to make use of respiratory therapy for infants with damaged lungs, and by 1970 the facility had opened the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.[3]
In 1984, Vanderbilt opened its nursing school, and by 1989 it had phased out its undergraduate nursing degree and began exclusively graduating nurses with advanced degrees. The school of nursing is consistently ranked in the top 25 nursing programs in the United States.
The Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center was founded in 1993 to bring together all cancer-related research, treatment, education, and outreach at Vanderbilt. Two years after it was founded it became an NCI-designated Cancer Center, and in 1999, Nashville’s Ingram family made a transformation gift in honor of the late E. Bronson Ingram, a philanthropist, businessman, and civil leader. It was designated a Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2001. In 2007, the cancer center was invited to join the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a group of 28 leading centers working to improve the quality and effectiveness of cancer treatment for all patients.[2]
Mesothelioma and Lung Cancer Care at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
The thoracic oncology team at Vanderbilt Health and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center uses a multidisciplinary team approach to treat patients diagnosed with lung cancer and malignant pleural mesothelioma. The thoracic surgeons, medical oncologists, pulmonologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists, and pathologists meet regularly and work together to confirm diagnoses and create personalized treatment plans supported by advanced practice nurses and patient care coordinators. The program was ranked among the top ten university hospitals across the United States for lowest mortality and post-surgery readmissions by the University HealthSystem Consortium, a fact that is due in part to Vanderbilt surgeons using advanced robotic and video-assisted technology to perform less invasive, lung-sparing surgery.[4]
For patients diagnosed with malignant peritoneal mesothelioma, Vanderbilt-Ingram offers the complex surgical procedure known as cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal mesothelioma to remove visible tumors and then administer a highly concentrated, heated solution of chemotherapy to kill any cancer centers left behind.[5]
Research
Researchers at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center have a primary focus on expanding basic cancer science and developing new drugs and precision oncology treatments. This work is done through eight different programs ranging from basic science to clinical and population-based research, including translational research and interventional oncology, signal transduction and chemical biology, gastrointestinal cancer, cancer health outcomes and control, cancer epidemiology, genome maintenance, and host-tumor interactions.[1]
Some of the center’s most notable successes include the development of best practices to assess immunotherapy toxicity and implement strategies for prevention and treatment; leadership in large-scale epidemiologic studies investigating patient-reported outcomes, disparities, quality of care, and cost-effectiveness; and completion of a prospective cohort study of more than 85,000 adults evaluating guidelines that determine which smokers qualify for CT screenings of the lungs, and which determined that current guidelines exclude significant numbers of African Americans who develop lung cancer. Researchers at Vanderbilt-Ingram also subtyped triple-negative breast cancer.[1]
Notable Staff and Mesothelioma Specialists
The physicians that make up the lung cancer and mesothelioma team at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center combine expertise and advanced research with compassionate care, state-of-the-art technology, and thoughtful treatment options meant to improve patient outcomes in keeping with the goals of the individual and their family members.
The cancer center’s thoracic oncology team includes lung cancer and malignant pleural mesothelioma specialists including medical oncologist and informatician Dr. Travis Osterman, physician-scientist Dr. Christine Lovly, and thoracic surgeons Dr. Eric S. Lambright and Dr. Jonathan C. Nesbitt.[4]
The facility also has a comprehensive Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy program staffed by a multidisciplinary team of medical oncologists, surgeons, and other professionals responsible for evaluation, diagnosis, staging, and treatment. The cytoreductive surgical procedure followed by the administration of chemotherapy is overseen and administered by Dr. Kamran Idrees, Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology & Endocrine Surgery and Director of Pancreatic and Gastro-Intestinal Surgical Oncology.[5]
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center is at the forefront of cancer treatment, offering state-of-the-art treatment for patients diagnosed with lung cancer, malignant pleural mesothelioma, and peritoneal mesothelioma.
