The Stanford Cancer Institute was originated in 2005. And, our goal was really to bring
together all of the elements at Stanford that contribute to cancer research and cancer care.
Stanford has a culture of innovation. The function of this medical center, is to advance
medical knowledge for the benefit of patients.
Many people have called it "bench to bedside" that is taking laboratory research and applying
it to the Clinic, but it's actually much more than that. It's also taking observations on
patients, taking those observations back to people who are doing basic investigations,
and really, understanding mechanisms of disease.
Cancer is a multi-factorial disease. So, we have a number of translational programs at
Stanford.
One is in immunology. We have a world-leading immunology program and are developing therapeutics,
both with vaccines and with cells that will arrest the growth of cancer cells.
Immunotherapy is using the immune system to treat a disease. The antibodies that we have
circulating in our blood are made of many cells, and if we can get the cells and clone
them one at a time, then all the subsequent cells from that one cell, make the same antibody.
That's called a monoclonal antibody.
When we treated the first patient with a monoclonal antibody and actually was cured, this was
totally unexpected. We were making something custom made just for him and it was the first
time we ever tried something like that.
Rituximab, grew out of this discovery and, it became the standard treatment for the disease
all around the world now.
Stanford has the unique capability of taking some of the world's leading science and applying
it clinically. We developed the first linear accelerator with Henry Kaplan. That has led
to substantial improvements in the care of cancer patients.
Radiation oncology is probably one of the of most renowned department in the world.
We're very well known for developing novel therapy in radiation therapy.
The old treatment of radiation was we set-up the field, that kind of resembled the shape
of the tumor while the tumor is moving up and down, and when the tumor gets in the field,
we'll get it. And then, when the tumor moves out the field, we may miss it.
The next approach we went to was to develop a machine that can track the motion of the
tumor. And that became the CyberKnife. The CyberKnife was actually meant for treatment
of a brain tumor.
And, then we learned that, hey, we can actually track the motion elsewhere. And so we developed
the first protocols to treat lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and treat prostate cancer
with the CyberKnife.
We have one of the world's leading imaging programs. So, based on a knowledge of the
biology of tumors, we can image at a molecular level, some of the malignancies at a very
early stage and hopefully catch them before they grow too large and impair the ability
of the patient to survive.
In addition, one of the bone marrow transplant forerunners, Dr. Karl Blume, established just
a terrific program in bone marrow transplantation.
Karl brought the concept of team-based clinical care. And I think, that's sort of a core value.
What we've learned in the setting of bone marrow transplantation is it's actually the
new immune system from the donor that helps kill off any residual disease in the patient.
And, that was something that took quite a while to figure out. The bone marrow is derived
from what are called hematopoietic stem cells. These are sort of the mother cells of the
bone marrow. But, that was really the entry of using cells as an immune-base therapy.
The way we look at cancer, through the eyes of stem cell biologists, had given us a unique
possibility to isolate the dangerous cells in the cancer and then the steps leading up to it.
Where science is going, away from the individual investigator and his lab in a corner and studying
stuff, it's much more of a team-based endeavor. You need lots of different types of expertise
to really move projects forward. And so, that's, I think, a real strength is developing these
teams, having them interact, and develop innovations that can cross different ways.
They're all within a stone's throw of each other. It facilitates interaction. So, you
can meet someone in the parking lot, and cook up a new collaboration. Or, you can see a
patient, and ask how they're doing.
You're constantly meeting people who are really the forefronts of their field. It's really
extraordinary the quality of the people that come through this place.
We're there to really create new knowledge. And that's why Stanford is different.