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One of the top 5 Cancer Research Centres in the World
The Princess Margaret
Princess Margaret Hospital is proud that it is the world leader on cancer stem cell research. In addition to this, The Princess Margaret:
- is a world leader in image-guided therapeutics
- is a world leader in lung cancer research and treatment
- is a world leader in patient survivorship program development
- is an emerging world leader in breast cancer research
- has one of the largest radiation centres under one roof in the world
- drug development program is home to the only NIH-sponsored Phase II consortium outside of the U.S.A.
- is one of the only three centres worldwide participating in the structural genomics consortium
What does it mean to be a major comprehensive cancer hospital?
As a major comprehensive research cancer hospital, The Princess Margaret actively adheres to the following:
- Invests in research through The Campbell Family Cancer Research Institute and The Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research, focusing on basic cancer research, clinical research and translational cancer research
- Works to develop more effective approaches to improve cancer diagnoses and therapies
- Delivers state-of-the-art care and services to patients and families
- Attracts, retains and educates many top cancer healthcare professionals
- Educates the Canadian public about cancer research, cancer prevention, cancer support and treatment
The above activities are supported by a long list of funding sources – federal, provincial and local – which provide grants focused on cancer research, prevention, training and education. These grants are available through a competitive process and scientists and researchers at The Princess Margaret are very successful in attracting and retaining grants for their work.
The Princess Margaret: One of the top 5 cancer research hospitals
Currently, global metrics or reporting systems that compare cancer hospitals around the world are not available. To position The Princess Margaret in a global perspective, researchers specializing in cancer care were asked to specify the most advanced cancer comprehensive hospitals based upon three core functions: Research, Clinical Care and Infrastructure. The following five cancer hospitals that had the greatest consensus among this group were:
- The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins – Baltimore, U.S.A.
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Boston, U.S.A.
- Mayo Clinic Cancer Center – Rochester, U.S.A.
- MD Anderson Cancer Center – Houston, U.S.A.
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center – New York, U.S.A.
Other cancer hospitals of note include:
- Royal Marsden Hospital – London, England
- Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre – Melbourne, Australia
- Institut Curie – Paris, France
- National Cancer Center – Tokyo, Japan
- Karolinska Institutet – Stockholm, Sweden
The Princess Margaret completed an analysis of the comprehensive cancer care it provides using the organizations listed above as benchmarks.
It was determined that The Princess Margaret is one of the top 5 cancer hospitals when measured against the same criteria used for the above cancer centres. These three criteria include:
- Clinical care – measures the number of outpatient clinics, to convey the scope of the clinical program at the hospital
- Research – measures the number of citations in high-impact journals, as a percentage
- Infrastructure – Measures the availability and use of advanced technology and/or techniques
The Princess Margaret: Clinical Care
Comprehensive research cancer hospitals work to accommodate as many patients as possible, offering clinics that focus in certain types of cancers (i.e. Breast centre, hematology clinic, prostate clinic, etc.).
When Clinical Care and Patient Centred Clinics were analyzed, The Princess Margaret ranked within the top 5. In brackets shows the total number of patient Care Centres/Clinics available at each site:
- The Princess Margaret (25)
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (22)
- MD Anderson Cancer Center (20)
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (20)
- The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center (18)
The Princess Margaret: Research
When a medical researcher has work published in a journal, depending on the quality and impact of the work, other researchers and medical professionals will refer to the work and cite it. The more frequently a researcher is cited in a prestigious journal; the more impact that paper has on the scientific and medical community. Being cited in a distinguished journal is paramount for a researcher and the institution where they work, as it can positively influence the importance of their research in the field.
Therefore, the percentage of researchers from cancer hospitals cited in high-impact journals was measured and The Princess Margaret ranked in the top 5. In brackets indicates the percentage (%) of published papers that occur in high-impact journals (includes papers in oncology, immunology, molecular bio and genetics as well as multidisciplinary journals):
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (21.9%)
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (15.2%)
- Mayo Clinic Cancer Center (12.6%)
- Princess Margaret Hospital (11.0%)
- The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center (10.0%)
The Princess Margaret: Infrastructure*:
Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death throughout the world and many patients must be diagnosed, monitored and/or treated in a form that uses advanced technology and leading edge and novel therapies. When the availability and use of cancer technology and leading edge and novel therapies was measured, The Princess Margaret ranked in the top 5:
- Equal in use of technology were:
- The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
- MD Anderson Cancer Center
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
- Mayo Clinic Cancer Centre
- Equal in use of technology and techniques are:
- The Princess Margaret
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
*Includes having: Advanced Microscopy, Flowcytometry, Radiotherapy Imaging, Nuclear Resonance, Interventional Animal Resource and Bone Marrow Transplant, MRI, PET scanner, Shaped Beam Radiation, Single Photon CT, which virtually the top five cancer centres all have and use. |
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