“Best Hospitals” cancer-care rank: 30
“Best Hospitals” cancer-care score: 58.8/100
Founded: 1904
Beds: 100
Clinicians/researchers: 250
Doctors
Research focus:
Cancer biology, cancer epigenetics, developmental therapeutics, immune-cell development and host defense, and cancer prevention and control.
Clinic at-a-glance:
At Fox Chase Cancer Center, new technologies and cancer treatments often are available before becoming standard practice in the broader cancer-care community. For example, it offers CancerCode, a DNA sequencing test allowing tumor-specific genetic alterations to be precisely matched with a choice of chemotherapy drugs likely to work best for the individual patient. Fox Chase enjoys an enviable reputation for research — two of its scientists won Nobel Prizes, one for history’s first cancer vaccine. It operates state-of-the-art lab facilities in support of biotechnology, clinical, cell biology, computing/information, and genetic research. At any one time, about 170 clinical trials of new prevention, diagnostic and treatment techniques are under way. The center has a special clinical-studies wing that includes a 10-bed special-care unit for patients participating in Phase I clinical trials. Now part of Temple University Health System, one of Philadelphia’s leading academic health centers, Fox Chase is a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center.