Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle Children’s and UW Medicine Complete Restructure of Partnership

By On Apr 3, 2022

SEATTLE (April 1, 2022) — Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), Seattle Children’s, and UW Medicine are restructuring their longstanding relationship and establishing Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, a unified adult cancer research and care center.

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center brings together Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and SCCA into a single, independent, nonprofit organization that is also a clinically integrated part of UW Medicine and UW Medicine’s cancer program.

“Today’s milestone is a huge step towards our vision to shorten the time from discovery to delivery of the most advanced treatments for our patients. It builds on the foundation and 20-year legacy that Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, SCCA, Seattle Children’s and UW Medicine have laid,” said Dr. Thomas J. Lynch, Jr., president and director of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and holder of the Raisbeck Endowed Chair. “As a unified organization, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center will focus on improving patient outcomes, accelerating research discoveries and treatments, and reducing barriers to how we work together. Ultimately, we want to provide our patients with the latest scientific breakthroughs and provide them with the best possible care.”

In the coming year, SCCA’s eight clinical care sites will be rebranded as Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center sites. Physicians at UW Medicine will continue to provide cancer care to their current and prospective patients at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and University of Washington Medical Center. High-quality patient care, research and business operations will remain uninterrupted during the transition.

As part of this transition, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center is establishing a new board of directors consisting of 13 members, including nine community directors and four senior officers. The community directors bring a wide range of expertise and perspectives from the healthcare, technology and professional services sectors. The ex officio positions are held by leaders at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and UW Medicine. Kathy Surace-Smith, vice president and general counsel of NanoString Technologies, served as chairman of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Board of Trustees and will now serve as board chairman of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.

“The establishment of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center will help us redefine cancer research and care,” said Kathy Surace-Smith. “Our collaboration and connectivity in our clinical and research programs will help us accelerate life-saving discoveries and improve outcomes for cancer patients in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.”

“Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center will streamline and enhance patients’ personalized care experience and build on the nationally recognized clinical and research excellence of SCCA and UW Medicine, as well as the internationally renowned research programs of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and UW Medicine,” said Dr. Paul Ramsey, general manager, UW Medicine. “The unification of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and SCCA and the clinical integration of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center with UW Medicine will bring research and care closer together, leveraging the strengths of all organizations to ensure patients reach the highest possible level as quickly as possible. access breakthrough treatments and cures. possible.”

Seattle Children’s, an original SCCA alliance partner, will work closely with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center to advance breakthroughs in adult and pediatric oncology. “Caring for children when they need us most and working to advance pediatric research is what inspires us,” says Dr. Jeff Sperring, CEO of Seattle Children’s. “We will continue to invest in and expand Seattle Children’s leading care and research in childhood cancer and blood disorders to serve children today and in the future and look forward to continuing to work with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.”

The merged organization will focus on integrating teams and operations over the coming weeks and months. A new Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center brand will be introduced later this year.

For more information, visit www.fhcc.org.

†

About Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

At the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home to three Nobel Prize winners, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists search for new and innovative ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. Fred Hutch’s pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation led to the development of immunotherapy, which uses the power of the immune system to treat cancer. Fred Hutch, an independent, nonprofit research institute based in Seattle, is home to the first National Cancer Institute-funded cancer prevention research program, as well as the clinical coordination center of the Women’s Health Initiative and the international headquarters of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network and the COVID-19 Prevention Network. For more information about Fred Hutch, visit fredhutch.org.

About Seattle Cancer Care Alliance

Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) brings together the leading research teams and cancer specialists from Fred Hutch, Seattle Children’s and UW Medicine – an extraordinary group whose sole purpose is the pursuit of better, longer and richer lives for our patients. Located in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, SCCA is the only National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated cancer center in Washington state. In addition to the Proton Therapy Center in Seattle, SCCA has nine clinical care locations in the region, including a medical oncology clinic at EvergreenHealth in Kirkland; hematology/medical oncology and infusion services at Overlake Medical Center in Bellevue, medical and radiation oncology clinics at UW Medical Center-Northwest in Seattle, and medical oncology services at SCCA Issaquah, as well as networking relationships with hospitals in five states. UWMC/SCCA has been recognized by US News & World Report as the 9th best cancer hospital for 2020-21 and the only number one cancer hospital in the Pacific Northwest for over a decade. For more information about SCCA, visit seattlecca.org.

About Seattle Children’s

Seattle Children’s mission is to provide hope, care and healing to help every child live the healthiest and most fulfilling life possible. Together, the Seattle Children’s Hospital, Research Institute and Foundation deliver superior patient care, identify new discoveries and treatments through pediatric research, and raise funds to create a brighter future for patients. Ranked as one of the top children’s hospitals in the country by US News & World Report, Seattle Children’s serves as the academic medical center for children and adolescents for Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho – the largest region of all children’s hospitals in the country. As one of the nation’s top five pediatric research centers, the Seattle Children’s Research Institute is internationally recognized for its work in neuroscience, immunology, cancer, infectious disease, injury prevention, and more. Seattle Children’s Foundation partners with the Seattle Children’s Guild Association, the largest fundraising network for all hospitals in the nation, to gather community support and raise money for uncompensated care and research. For more information about Seattle Children’s, visit seattlechildrens.org.

About YOUR Medicine

UW Medicine is one of the top-rated integrated clinical, research and learning health systems in the world. With a mission to improve the health of the public, UW Medicine educates the next generation of physicians and scientists, leads one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive biomedical research programs, and provides outstanding care to patients from around the world. Our family of nearly 29,000 healthcare providers, researchers, educators, and staff includes Airlift Northwest, Harborview Medical Center, UW Medical Center, UW Medicine Primary Care, UW Physicians, UW School of Medicine, and Valley Medical Center. The UW School of Medicine ranks second in the nation in National Institutes of Health research grants with $1.3 billion according to the US News & World Report Best Medical School Rankings (Fiscal Year 2020). For more information about UW Medicine, visit yourmedicine.org.

Fred Hutch: media@fredhutch.org, 206.667.2210

SCCA: media@seattlecca.org, 206.640.4782

Seattle Children’s: press@seattlechildrens.org

UW Medicine: sghanson@uw.edu, 206.390.3226