THE JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL

ONCOLOGY SINCE ITS INCEPTION IN 1973, THE SIDNEY KIMMEL COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER AT THE JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL HAS BEEN DEDICATED TO BETTER UNDERSTANDING HUMAN CANCERS AND FINDING MORE EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS. FOR OVER FORTY YEARS THE KIMMEL CANCER CENTER HAS BEEN TURNING RESEARCH INTO RESULTS. FROM THE BEGINNING, KIMMEL CANCER CENTER LEADERS HAD A UNIQUE VISION OF WHAT OUR CANCER CENTER SHOULD BE. ITS HALLMARKS WERE INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION AND INNOVATION THAT TRANSCENDED THE ARTIFICIAL BOUNDARIES OF INDIVIDUAL DEPARTMENTS, LABORATORIES, AND CLINICS. OUR MISSION WAS TO RAPIDLY TRANSFER DISCOVERIES ABOUT CANCER FROM THE BENCH TO THE BEDSIDE. THAT FOCUS AND MISSION REMAINS UNCHANGED TODAY. WITH THE CONVERGENCE OF TECHNOLOGY, BRILLIANT SCIENTIFIC MINDS, AND THE COMMITMENT OF THOSE WHO HAVE FUNDED THESE DISCOVERIES, WE HAVE COME TO A TIME WHEN WE CAN BEGIN TO ALTER THE COURSE OF CANCER IN WAYS WE COULD ONLY IMAGINE FOUR DECADES AGO. THE JOHNS HOPKINS KIMMEL CANCER CENTER IS ONE OF THE NATION'S 41 COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTERS DESIGNATED BY THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE, AND ONE OF THE FIRST TO EARN THAT STATUS. RESEARCH LED BY ITS FACULTY IS AMONG THE MOST HIGHLY-CITED IN CANCER RESEARCH AND CLINICAL CARE. THE STRENGTH OF OUR RESEARCH AND TREATMENT PROGRAMS WAS RECOGNIZED EARLY ON BY THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE, BECOMING ONE OF THE FIRST TO EARN COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER STATUS AND RECOGNITION AS A "CENTER OF EXCELLENCE." HOPKINS HAS PIONEERED FIELDS SUCH AS CANCER GENETICS, BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT MEDICINE AND CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY. THE KIMMEL CANCER CENTER IS THE ONLY COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER IN THE STATE OF MARYLAND. IT ENCOMPASSES A WIDE SPECTRUM OF SPECIALTY PROGRAMS FOR BOTH ADULTS AND CHILDREN COPING WITH CANCER, INCLUDING BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTATION AND NEW DRUG DEVELOPMENT. PATIENTS WHO VISIT THE KIMMEL CANCER CENTER HAVE ACCESS TO SOME OF THE MOST INNOVATIVE AND ADVANCED THERAPIES IN THE WORLD. BECAUSE KIMMEL CANCER CENTER RESEARCH SCIENTISTS AND CLINICIANS WORK CLOSELY TOGETHER, NEW DRUGS AND TREATMENTS DEVELOPED IN THE LABORATORY ARE QUICKLY TRANSFERRED TO THE CLINICAL SETTING, OFFERING PATIENTS CONSTANTLY IMPROVED THERAPEUTIC OPTIONS. THE KIMMEL CANCER CENTER'S BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT PROGRAM (BMT), HAS BEEN AN INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED PROGRAM IN THE AREA OF BLOOD AND MARROW TRANSPLANTATION FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS. IN THAT TIME, BMT HAS BECOME AN ACCEPTED, CURATIVE THERAPY FOR A BROAD RANGE OF DISEASES, INCLUDING MALIGNANT DISEASES THAT INVOLVE THE BONE MARROW SUCH AS LEUKEMIA AND LYMPHOMA, NONMALIGNANT DISEASES THAT INVOLVE THE BONE MARROW SUCH AS APLASTIC ANEMIA AND A VARIETY OF INHERITED DISEASES. TO DATE, MORE THAN 5,000 BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTS HAVE BEEN PERFORMED AT JOHNS HOPKINS, A NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE-DESIGNATED COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER THAT IS FULLY ACCREDITED BY THE NATIONAL MARROW DONOR PROGRAM AS AN UNRELATED DONOR TRANSPLANT CENTER. AS A NATIONAL REFERRAL CENTER FOR BMT, HOPKINS PERFORMS AROUND 300 TRANSPLANTS EACH YEAR. THE WORK BY CENTER INVESTIGATORS IN CANCER GENETICS AND EPIGENETICS IS RECOGNIZED AS THE CLASSIC MODEL FOR DECIPHERING THE MECHANISMS OF CANCER INITIATION AND PROGRESSION. THE PIONEERING RESEARCH THAT DEFINED CANCER AS A GENETIC DISEASE WAS DONE AT OUR CENTER. THESE DISCOVERIES LED TO THE FIRST GENETIC TESTS FOR A HEREDITARY CANCER AND A SCREENING STOOL TEST FOR COLON CANCER. OUR INVESTIGATORS WERE THE FIRST TO MAP A CANCER GENOME, DECIPHERING THE GENETIC BLUEPRINTS FOR COLON, BREAST, PANCREATIC, AND BRAIN CANCERS. OF THE 75 CANCERS FOR WHICH ALL GENES HAVE BEEN SEQUENCED, 68 HAVE BEEN DONE AT THE KIMMEL CANCER CENTER. THESE DISCOVERIES HAVE PAVED THE WAY FOR PERSONALIZED THERAPIES WITH OUR INVESTIGATORS UNDERTAKING THE FIRST USE OF PERSONALIZED GENOME SCANNING TO REVEAL THE GENE MUTATION THAT CAUSED A PERSON'S INHERITED FORM OF PANCREATIC CANCER.

NEUROSURGERY THE DEPARTMENT OF NEUROSURGERY AT THE JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL ("JHH") CONTINUES ITS MISSION TO IMPROVE THE LIVES OF PATIENTS BY BUILDING UPON A TRADITION OF DEEP COLLABORATION. THE DEPARTMENT IS COMPRISED OF OVER 20 FULL TIME CLINICAL NEUROSURGEONS THAT PROVIDE CARE TO OUR PATIENTS WITH THE HELP OF SPECIALIZED NURSES AND OTHER HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS IN THE OPERATING ROOMS, OUTPATIENT CLINICAL BUILDING, AND OUR INPATIENT CRITICAL CARE AND ACUTE CARE UNITS. THE SHEIKH ZAYED TOWER AND THE CHARLOTTE R. BLOOMBERG CHILDREN'S CENTER OFFER ENHANCED LEVELS OF NEUROLOGICAL AND NEUROSURGICAL CARE. THE OPENING OF THESE FACILITIES ENABLES JHH TO PROVIDE PATIENT-FOCUSED NEUROLOGICAL SERVICES INCLUDING STATE-OF-THE-ART ADULT AND PEDIATRIC OPERATING ROOMS THAT INCLUDE INTRA-OPERATIVE MRI MACHINES THAT PROVIDE REAL-TIME IMAGES OF THE BRAIN DURING SURGERY. IN ADDITION, OUR NEUROLOGICAL CRITICAL CARE UNIT ("NCCU") PROVIDES COMPLETE INTENSIVE CARE MANAGEMENT TO PATIENTS ADMITTED FROM NEUROSURGERY, NEUROLOGY, ORTHOPEDIC/SPINE, OTOLARYNGOLOGY AND PLASTIC SURGERY. OUR SURGEONS ARE ABLE TO BRING NEW AND EXCEPTIONAL TREATMENTS TO OUR ADULT AND PEDIATRIC PATIENTS FASTER BECAUSE OF OUR TIGHT NETWORK OF EXPERTS WHO SPECIALIZE IN CONDITIONS SUCH AS BRAIN TUMOR, CEREBROVASULAR DISEASE, FUNCTIONAL DISORDERS, PERIPHERAL NERVE CONDITIONS, SPINAL DEFORMITY, TUMORS AND REPAIR AND TRAUMA. WE OPERATE SEVERAL NEUROLOGICAL CENTERS OF CARE AT JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL INCLUDING THE EPILEPSY CENTER AT JOHNS HOPKINS WHICH EVALUATES AND CARES FOR PATIENTS WITH SEIZURE DISORDERS FROM INFANTS THROUGH THE ELDERLY. A UNIQUE ASPECT OF OUR EPILEPSY CENTER IS THAT WE PROVIDE A CONTINUUM OF CARE FOR OUR PATIENTS ACROSS THE AGE SPECTRUM MAKING USE OF ENHANCED EPILEPSY MONITORING EQUIPMENT THAT IS SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR THE EVALUATION OF ADULT AND PEDIATRIC SEIZURE DISORDERS. OUR COMPREHENSIVE BRAIN TUMOR CENTER IS ONE OF THE LARGEST BRAIN TUMOR TREATMENT AND RESEARCH CENTERS IN THE WORLD. WE TREAT AN EXTREMELY LARGE NUMBER OF PATIENTS AFFECTED BY ALL TYPES OF BRAIN TUMORS. WE TAILOR THE BEST AND MOST ADVANCED THERAPIES THAT EACH UNIQUE TUMOR DEMANDS. OUR TEAM CONSISTS OF SKILLED SURGEONS, NEUROLOGISTS AND ONCOLOGISTS THAT CAN PROVIDE THE MOST EFFECTIVE AND SAFEST TREATMENT EVEN ON THE MOST CHALLENGING TYPES OF TUMORS. PATIENTS COME TO JOHNS HOPKINS FOR NEUROLOGICAL CARE FROM THE LOCAL BALTIMORE COMMUNITY AND THE MID-ATLANTIC REGION AS WELL AS FROM AROUND THE NATION AND THE WORLD TO RECEIVE THE MOST CUTTING-EDGE CARE, AND FIND THAT WE ARE A PLACE OF HOPE AND CARE. EACH YEAR, WE PROVIDE OVER 30,000 OUTPATIENT CONSULTATIONS AND PERFORM MORE THAN 4,000 BRAIN, TUMOR, VASCULAR AND PERIPHERAL NERVE OPERATIONS IN THE JOHNS HOPKINS OUTPATIENT CENTER. IN OUR HOSPITAL, WE ALSO PROVIDED CARE TO OVER 3,000 ADULT AND 500 PEDIATRIC PATIENTS WITH NEUROSURGICAL DISEASES. JOHNS HOPKINS HAS EMERGED AS ONE OF THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE NEUROLOGICAL CENTERS OF ITS KIND AS RECOGNIZED BY OUR TOP THREE RANKING IN THE NATION IN NEUROLOGY AND NEUROSURGERY BY U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT.