Beaumont Hospital wins $4.8M grant for cancer research

Cancer research at Beaumont Hospital is catching a second wind now that the National Cancer Institute has renewed its cancer program designation.

The confirmation means the Royal Oak-based hospital will stay a Community Clinical Oncology Program for five more years. It also comes with a $4.8 million grant that will keep the program's 35 people in the lab and hospital room working on an answer for cancer.

"It's a win-win for both the patients and the physicians and the hospital," says Dr. Gary Chmielewski, the principal investigator for Beaumont Hospital's Community Clinical Oncology Program. "It helps provide jobs and treatment for people."

The grant supports Beaumont's ongoing participation in NCI-sponsored clinical research trials. Such trials, for both adults and children, focus on cancer prevention or treatment and translational research. The federal government created the Community Clinical Oncology Program in 1983 and has 47 participating hospitals across the nation. The programs use highly trained cancer doctors in community settings to bring the benefits of research to a greater number of people, such as making the latest findings available and helping round out and diversify the pool of participants in clinical trials.

Source: Dr. Gary Chmielewski, the principal investigator for Beaumont Hospital's Community Clinical Oncology Program
Writer: Jon Zemke