Reprinted from Karmanos Hope Magazine, 2009 calendar.



There are many reasons why patients from across Michigan and around the country choose the Karmanos Cancer Center for care and treatment. One is because Karmanos is among 40 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the United States. Earning and maintaining this designation since 1978 follows a highly competitive process every five years and places Karmanos among the nation’s best.

An NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center must commit to higher standards of combining research, education and patient care. Comprehensive cancer centers are expected to initiate and conduct early phase, innovative clinical trials and to participate in the NCI’s cooperative groups by providing leadership and recruiting patients for trials. Comprehensive cancer centers are known for exceptional cancer care and treatment and must also conduct cancer outreach and educational activities for both health care professionals and the public.

For anyone facing a cancer diagnosis, John C. Ruckdeschel, M.D., president and chief executive officer at the Karmanos Cancer Institute, highly recommends selecting an elite hospital like Karmanos with an NCI designation. “We know there are many choices when it comes to hospitals in southeast Michigan,” says Dr. Ruckdeschel. “What distinguishes us from other health care providers is our NCI designation and total focus on cancer care and research. Lots of places can do a good job at taking care of cancer patients. But it’s integrating research into that care that makes Karmanos special.”

Research breakthroughs at Karmanos helped Terry Fornwall beat pancreatic cancer.

“I was diagnosed at another hospital in September 2004,” Fornwall says. “They sent an oncologist in who told me that most patients normally succumb to this disease. My husband and I were given no hope. We decided to come to Karmanos because we learned that they were running a clinical trial that might help.”

Clinical trials provide critical information about how new cancer-fighting drugs affect patients. Fornwall participated in an FDA-approved trial at Karmanos under the care of Philip A. Philip, M.D., Ph.D., FRCP, professor of Medicine and Oncology and leader of the Gastrointestinal Multidisciplinary Team, whose research interests include finding novel therapies to treat gastrointestinal cancers.

“When we came to see Dr. Philip, he informed me that the disease had spread to my liver,” Fornwall says. “I started chemotherapy and began taking some medication that was very new. About four or five months into the trial, the cancer in my liver had disappeared and my tumor was gone. I’ve been in remission since August 2005. Karmanos offered me all the hope in the world and saved my life.”

Dr. Ruckdeschel says leading edge research efforts underscore the importance of being treated at an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center. “It’s very exciting to offer patients the latest advances in fighting cancer,” he says. “Research, integral to an NCI designation, helps lengthen patient’s lives and make them better. It’s what makes us come to work every day.”