CCE Gynecologic Oncology: M.D. Anderson -- Selection criteria

University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Houston

, Texas

Awards
In 2008, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center received a $52.7 million, five-year renewal award from the NCI  to support 19 M.D. Anderson specific cancer research programs, including gynecologic oncology. In the process, the center was awarded NCI’s highest rating of “outstanding” during an extensive peer-review evaluation, involving more than 40 experts  chosen by NCI and other institutions.

Among its grant awards, the center’s Blanton-Davis Ovarian Cancer Research Program received a four-year, $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to research chemoprevention of ovarian cancer.

Prestige
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is one of only 41 comprehensive cancer centers designated by the NCI.

M.D. Anderson is one of three original comprehensive cancer centers designated by NCI in 1974.

Work
The center has 78 research protocols, 17, of which are associated with the NCI.

The Gynecologic Oncology Department performed 781 inpatient procedures in 2008.

Recognition
David M. Gershenson, MD, chairman of M.D. Anderson’s Gynecologic Oncology Department, is an expert in ovarian cancer and has held several national positions. He is treasurer of the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation (2006-2009), and chair of the Gynecologic Oncology Group’s Rare Tumor Committee at M.D. Anderson. He is also a past president of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists (1996).

In addition, he is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Council of Biology Editors, the International Gynecologic Cancer Society, and is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and of the American College of Surgeons.  In 2006, Gershenson was elected to a six-year term as a director of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and was also appointed to the NCI’s Gynecologic Cancer Steering Committee.