Historical Timeline

Historical Timeline of Karmanos Cancer Institute

While the Institute was formally established in 1943 as the Detroit Institute for Cancer Research, our fight against this disease began in 1863 with the establishment of Harper Hospital, which served as the Institute's inpatient facility.

1863

• Harper Hospital (now Harper University Hospital) was established. One of its first tasks is treating wounded Civil War soldiers.

1868

• Detroit Medical College, now Wayne State University’s School of Medicine and the Institute’s academic affiliate, was founded by five doctors who borrowed a building from Harper University Hospital.

1901

• Harper University Hospital obtained its first X-ray equipment, known as “Skyography.” Under the leadership of H.R. Varney, M.D., the hospital soon began to use X-rays to destroy cancer cells.

1925

• A research laboratory is established for research on cancer, pellagra, tuberculosis and bone tumors.

1935

• A local branch of the national Women’s Field Army was established to offer voluntary assistance to local cancer patients and their families. These dedicated women were credited with initiating organized cancer control efforts in the community.

1938

• Under the National Cancer Institute Act of 1937, U.S. Public Health Service officials allowed Wayne State University to establish a cancer training center in Detroit in collaboration with nearby hospitals. The center focused on pathology, X-ray and radium use, and cancer surgery.

1943

• The Detroit Institute for Cancer Research was established. Rollin H. Stevens, M.D., a noted Detroit-area radiologist at Grace Hospital, was appointed the institute’s first president.
• Dr. Stevens led a team of 12 independent research scientists, including Maynie R. Curtis, Ph.D., and her colleague Wilhelmina F. Dunning, M.D., known for their work on genetically restricted animal breeding for cancer research, and Mary J. Guthrie, Ph.D., who discovered a method to induce ovarian tumors in mice via the spleen.

1945

• After the American Cancer Society was established, a Detroit group is granted a charter and became the Society’s Southeastern Michigan Division. The group fully supported of the Detroit Institute for Cancer Research and locally raised $250,000 to purchase a facility on the corner of Warren and John R (previously the Institute’s Prentis Center housing a tumor registry and cancer detection center).
  

1947

• William L. Simpson, M.D., was recruited as scientific director of the Detroit Institute for Cancer Research and became head of its research programs.
• The American Cancer Society implemented a policy prohibiting local chapters from owning property and operating medical clinics and scientific laboratories. To comply, the Society’s Southeastern Michigan Division established the Michigan Cancer Foundation, transferring all property titles to the newly-formed nonprofit.

1948

• The Detroit Institute for Cancer Research and Wayne State University School of Medicine joined forces to establish a strong focus on cancer research concentration that endures to this day.
• Woman’s Hospital (now Hutzel Hospital) dedicates the Detroit Cancer Center, located at John R and Hancock.

1950

• The American Cancer Society, in collaboration with the Michigan Cancer Foundation, began sponsoring various cancer research and outreach activities including the Yates Memorial Cancer Detection Clinic and the Michigan Cancer Registry. These are vital for early detection and diagnosis of cancer, understanding cancer trends, improving patient care, and guiding public health strategies and policies.

1956

• Plans were announced for the formation of The Detroit Medical Center, a consortium of affiliated hospitals to serve as teaching institutions for Wayne State University’s School of Medicine. This formation of teaching institutions represented a significant step in enhancing medical education and patient care in the region by fostering closer collaboration between the university and local hospitals.

1960

• Wayne State University’s School of Medicine researchers study air pollution, becoming the first to produce lung cancer artificially.
• That same year, it announced plans for a new campus in what will become The Detroit Medical Center.

1962

• Vainutis Vaitkevicius, M.D. (Dr. Vee), was appointed clinical director of the Detroit Institute for Cancer Research. He established the Milton A. Darling Memorial Clinical Cancer Research Center, which included a clinical facility with space for 18 inpatients, an outpatient clinic, and a laboratory for clinical studies.

1964

• Azidothymidine (AZT), designed as an anticancer drug, was synthesized in Michigan Cancer Foundation’s chemistry lab by Jerome Horwitz, Ph.D.
• ATZ later became the first drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of AIDS.

1966

• The Detroit Institute for Cancer Research, Yates Cancer Detection Clinic, and Michigan Cancer Registry merged to form the Michigan Cancer Foundation, a corporation with coordinated program objectives. Michael J. Brennan, M.D., was named president and medical director. Dr. William Simpson was appointed executive vice president.
• Wayne State University’s School of Medicine established a new Division of Conjoint Services and Curricula in Oncology, responsible for coordinating clinical cancer teaching activities. Vainutis Vaitkevicius, M.D., was named director.

1967

• Institute chemist Jerome P. Horwitz, Ph.D.,  creates dideoxycytidine (ddC). In 25 years it became a second cancer drug approved for AIDS patients.

1969

• With the cooperation of 70 area hospitals and 8,000 physicians, Michigan Cancer Foundation’s cancer registry began recording every cancer incidence in southeast Michigan. Today, with vital statistics on more than 400,000 cancer patients, becoming one of the nation’s largest population-based cancer registries.
  

1971

• The National Cancer Act is passed by Congress and signed by President Richard Nixon. It is the nation’s first large-scale offensive initiative against cancer and calls for the creation of regional comprehensive cancer centers.

1972

• Wayne State University is awarded a planning grant to study the feasibility of establishing a comprehensive cancer center in Detroit.
• Wayne State University’s School of Medicine grants departmental status to medical oncology.
• Dr. John Wolfe of Hutzel Hospital (formerly Women’s Hospital) leads the world’s first training program in the art of xeroradiography.

1973

• Michigan Cancer Foundation opens its new headquarters on John R and Warren, featuring 125,000 square feet to accommodate its basic laboratory research, epidemiological research, breast cancer screening and administrative programs.
• Herbert Soule, Ph.D., developed the MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line, which was the first time such cells were successfully grown outside the body. The line soon became a standard for human breast cancer research around the world.
• Michigan Cancer Foundation’s cancer registry was invited to join the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program, one of only 11 national sites that monitored samples of the country’s population for cancer incidence.

1974

• Vainutis Vaitkevicius, M.D., Norman D. Nigro, M.D., and Basil Considine, M.D., published the article, “Combined therapy for cancer of the anal canal.” It leads to a paradigm shift in the way cancer patients are treated, including organ preservation, the use of multidisciplinary teams, and neoadjuvant (given before surgery) chemotherapy.
• A Joint Committee for Cancer Studies and Research is formed by the Michigan Cancer Foundation and Wayne State University to plan collaborative projects in cancer research and patient care.
• More than 70 volunteers take histories, teach breast self-examination techniques and help patients prepare for exams as Michigan Cancer Foundation’s Breast Cancer Detection Center opens.
  

1975

• Wayne State University’s Division of Conjoint Services and Curricula in Oncology became the Detroit Medical Center Institute for Oncology and Allied Diseases, a nonprofit corporation established to complement the role of faculty members in their university-related endeavors.

1976

• Michigan Cancer Foundation received a grant from the National Cancer Institute to establish the Metropolitan Detroit Cancer Control Program. The program, supported by more than 60 agencies and organizations, focused on providing health education and prevention, cancer screening and detection, diagnosis and treatment, rehabilitation and patient care services.
• Michigan Cancer Foundation and Wayne State University sign a Cancer Center Affiliation Agreement, creating the Cancer Center of Metropolitan Detroit.

1978

• The Cancer Center of Metropolitan Detroit was awarded comprehensive status by the National Cancer Institute, the first in Metro Detroit.
• Wayne State University’s School of Medicine researcher Norman Nigro, M.D., documents the link between dietary fiber and fat in the prevention of colon cancer.

1979

• Michigan Cancer Foundation’s Home Care Program becomes Medicare certified — the first cancer-specific home care programs in the nation.

1980

• The Gershenson Radiation Oncology Center opened, a collaboration with Wayne State University’s School of Medicine and Harper University Hospital.

1982

• Wayne State University’s Division of Oncology was merged with the Department of Internal Medicine. Vainutis Vaitkevicius, M.D. is named chairman and Dr. Laurence H. Baker is appointed director of the Division of Medical Oncology.

1985

• The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Metropolitan Detroit is named in honor of Meyer L. Prentis, a Detroit philanthropist who was treasurer of General Motors for 32 years. He and his wife, Anna, dedicated their lives to charitable endeavors, helping to establish the United Foundation, now the United Way for Southeastern Michigan.
• The Detroit Medical Center was established, with the founding institutions acknowledging a need for strength and unity to better fulfill their individual missions, join together and respond to the challenges of an ever-changing health care environment.

1987

• The Vaitkevicius Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center is built adjacent to Harper University Hospital. The facility used state-of the-art equipment to detect tumors.

1988

• Laurence H. Baker is named director of the Meyer L. Prentis Comprehensive Cancer Center of Metropolitan Detroit.
• Michigan Cancer Foundation’s Minority Student Apprenticeship Program, one of almost 300 nationwide, was recognized by the National Institutes of Health as a model program.”

1989

• Herbert D. Soule, Ph.D. developed MCF-10, an immortal line of normal human breast cells. The cell line was the first of its kind to be cultured without the use of transforming agents and was used to study the earliest changes a normal cell undergoes in becoming cancerous.

1991

• Michael J. Brennan, M.D., retired, and Vainutis Vaitkevicius, M.D., was appointed president of the Michigan Cancer Foundation.
• The world’s first superconducting cyclotron built to treat cancer was installed in the Gershenson Radiation Oncology Center.
• The Detroit Medical Center is admitted as a member to the Meyer L. Prentis Comprehensive Cancer Center of Metropolitan Detroit.

1994

• Michigan Cancer Foundation, the Meyer L. Prentis Comprehensive Cancer Center of Metropolitan Detroit, and the cancer programs of Wayne State University and The Detroit Medical Center merge under a single administrative structure, creating one of the country’s largest centers of its kind.
• With a $3 million gift from the estate of Victor and Lucille Wertz, the Wertz Clinical Cancer Center opened, providing outpatient chemotherapy, multidisciplinary clinics and patient education programs.

1995

• Peter Karmanos, Jr., donated $15 million to the Center, which is named for his wife, Barbara Ann, to become the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute.
• William P. Peters, M.D., Ph.D., is recruited to head the Center.
• The Vainutis K. Vaitkevicius Community Services Center is dedicated in Southfield, Michigan.
• Abacavir, also known as lamivudine and dideoxythiacytidine (3TC), was approved by the FDA. Abacavir is a medication for the treatment of HIV that was developed at Karmanos. Abacavir slows the progression of disease by inhibiting viral replication.

1998

• The National Breast Cancer Prevention Trial announced that the drug Tamoxifen can decrease the occurrence of breast cancer in healthy women at high risk for the disease by 50 percent. This drug was developed using the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line, which was established by the Institute in 1973.

1999

• The Hudson-Webber Cancer Research Center opened. At 80,000 square feet, the facility serves as the “translational” research facility, bridging the gaps between ideas in the lab and applications in the clinic. It also houses work on emerging technologies for novel methods of cancer detection and treatment.
• Wei Zen Wei, Ph.D. developed HER-2 DNA breast cancer vaccine.

2000

• The Institute completed its $100 million capital and endowment campaign.
• Institute physicians present the plenary (lead) presentations at the two largest cancer meetings in the world. Dr. Omer Kucuk presents his findings on lycopene and its ability to reduce the size of prostate tumors at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Dr. William Peters presents his study on high dose therapy and stem cell transplant for the treatment of breast cancer at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists.
• The expanded $5 million Alexander J. Walt Comprehensive Breast Center opens, offering advanced screening and diagnostics, as well as technologies developed at the Institute.
• The Institute becomes affiliated with Northern Michigan Hospital in Petoskey to collaborate on cancer care and research.

2001

• The Lawrence and Idell Weisberg Cancer Treatment Center opend in Farmington Hills as an outpatient facility, offering chemotherapy, radiation oncology and other sophisticated cancer treatments, in an atmosphere designed to provide comfort and healing.
• The Institute and the J.P. McCarthy Cord Stem Cell Bank partnered to establish a cord blood bank focused on minority donors. At that time, it was the sole one in southeastern Michigan and one of only eight national, free-of-charge, public cord blood banks.

2002

• John C. Ruckdeschel, M.D., a lung cancer specialist who built the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida into one of the nation’s largest cancer research and treatment centers, was named president, director and chief executive officer of the Institute.

2003

• The Institute became affiliated with Crittenton Hospital in Rochester to collaborate on cancer care and research.

2004

• In response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) identification of major sources of public asbestos exposure in Michigan, the Institute and the Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, affiliated with Wayne State University, joined forces to establish the National Center for Vermiculite and Asbestos-Related Cancers. The joint program addressed an immediate public health need for early diagnosis and aggressive treatment of asbestos-related diseases in Michigan.
• The Institute partnered with Mt. Clemens Regional Medical Center, MidMichigan Medical Center, and the Toledo Clinic Hematology Oncology to collaborate on cancer care and research.
• A clinical prototype of the ultrasound tomography (UST) device was installed at the Institute. UST utilizes ultrasound waves to image soft tissues, specifically for the diagnosis of breast cancer, and it received 510(k) FDA approval in 2013.

2005

• On December 1, the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute becomes Michigan's first and only independent hospital exclusively focused on caring for cancer patients.
• The Institute partnered with Huron Medical Group to collaborate on cancer care and research.

2006

• The Institute partnered with Marquette General Health System in Marquette, Metropolitan Florence Nightingale Hospital and Cancer Center in Turkey, and Newland Medical Associates in Southfield and Novi to collaborate on cancer care and research.

2007

• The Institute becomes affiliated with ProMedica Health System in Toledo to collaborate on cancer care and research.

2008

• The Institute becomes affiliated with Detroit Medical Center Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital in Commerce and Wattansoth Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, to collaborate on cancer care and research.

2009

• For the third consecutive year, Karmanos Cancer Center is selected as the most preferred hospital for cancer care in southeast Michigan, according to a survey by the National Research Corporation.
• Karmanos, Mercy Memorial Hospital System of Monroe, and ProMedica Health System of Toledo, announced a joint venture agreement that brought innovative, state-of-the-science cancer care to Monroe and the surrounding communities.

2010

• Gerold Bepler, M.D., Ph.D., a lung cancer specialist, was named president and chief executive officer of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute.
• For the fourth consecutive year, Karmanos Cancer Center is selected as the most preferred hospital for cancer care in southeast Michigan, according to a survey by the National Research Corporation.

2011

• Mercy Memorial Hospital System, ProMedica of Toledo and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Center of Detroit announce the opening of the Monroe Cancer Center.
• The Monroe Cancer Center, a joint venture between the three organizations, brings quality cancer care to Monroe County.

2012

• Patricia LoRusso, D.O., director of Phase I Clinical Trials and the Eisenberg Center for Experimental Therapeutics at Karmanos, was appointed co-leader of the Stand Up To Cancer and Melanoma Research Alliance Melanoma Dream Team.
• Ann Schwartz, Ph.D., M.P.H., executive vice president of research and academic affairs at Karmanos, was awarded a five-year, $9 million grant to support her INHALE study, which looks at the links between smoking, inflammation and the development of lung cancer.

2014

• The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute joined McLaren Health Care to form the largest cancer network in the state of Michigan. This network diagnoses and treats more than 12,500 new cancer cases each year.
• National Cancer Institute-Lead Academic Participating Site for the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN)

2017

• CAR T-cell therapy received FDA approval; Karmanos was one of 18 sites in the world that participated in its development.

2020

• Karmanos received a five-year renewal of its National Cancer Institute (NCI) Core Grant, also known as the Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG). This renewal extends Karmanos’ prestigious NCI designation for five years. Karmanos’ Office of Cancer Health Equity and Community Engagement (OCHECE), which conducts community-based behavioral research, achieved a perfect score of “exceptional” during the grant renewal site visit.

2021

• SoftVue™ 3D Whole Breast Ultrasound Tomography System receives FDA approval for use as an adjunct to digital mammography in screening asymptomatic women with dense breast tissue. This technology was developed by Delphinus Medical Technologies, LLC, which originated as part of Karmanos Cancer Institute.

2022

• Karmanos Cancer Institute, McLaren Greater Lansing and MSU Health Care partnered to open doors to new frontiers in cancer care and research in Lansing with a new facility. Karmanos Cancer Institute partnered with The Toledo Clinic Cancer Center to expand cancer care services in Maumee, OH, marking this the first time the Karmanos Cancer Network has expanded outside of Michigan. Karmanos completed expansion at the Weisberg Cancer Center in Farmington Hills, tripling its size and offering more cancer services in Oakland County.

2023

• Karmanos Cancer Institute opened a medical oncology clinic in Roseville, serving patients in southern Macomb County.
• Boris Pasche, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, an experienced hematologist and medical oncologist, was named president and chief executive officer of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, the principal investigator (PI) for the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Comprehensive Cancer Center Core Grant and the chair of the Department of Oncology at Wayne State University School of Medicine.
• Boris Pasche, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, president and CEO of Karmanos Cancer Institute, co-invented the TheraBionic P1 device, which received FDA approval in 2023 for treating advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

2024

• Karmanos Cancer Institute and McLaren Oakland opened a multi-specialty clinic in Oxford, providing access to comprehensive cancer care within the Karmanos Cancer Network.

2025

• Karmanos Cancer Institute opened a medical oncology clinic in Dearborn, serving patients in west and southwest of Detroit.