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One of the top 5 Cancer Research Centres in the World
The Princess Margaret
The Princess Margaret is proud to be the world leader in cancer stem cell research. In addition, The Princess Margaret is:
- The world leader in cancer stem cell research
- A world leader in image-guided therapeutics
- A world leader in lung cancer research and treatment
- A world leader in patient survivorship program development
- An emerging world leader in breast cancer research and discovery
- An emerging world leader in personalized cancer medicine
What does it mean to be a major cancer centre?
As a major cancer centre, The Princess Margaret actively adheres to the following:
- Invests in research through the Ontario Cancer Institute and The Campbell Family Cancer Research Institute, focusing on basic, translational, and clinical 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 – provincial, federal, and international – 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 centres in the World
Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) has a long history of outstanding patient care and advanced research with a vision to be one of the top 5 Cancer Research Centres in the world. There are no agreed upon metrics or reporting systems to compare cancer programs around the world, but current data positions The Princess Margaret amongst other top comprehensive cancer centres in the United States.
Using the analysis from the 2011 U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals” study, Princess Margaret Hospital was held to similar criteria and rated on the core aspects of technologies and patient services. Also included in the benchmarking was a review of all recent research that has been conducted by the cancer research centre.
Institutes among the top 5 highest rankings in cancer care include:
- 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:
- MD Anderson Cancer Centre, Houston, Texas
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
- The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland
- Mayo Clinic Cancer Centre, Rochester, Minnesota
- University of Washington Medical Centre, Seattle, Washington
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 research centres when measured against the same criteria used for the above cancer centres. These three criteria include:
- Technologies – measures the availability and use of advanced technology for patients.
- Patient Services – measures the major conveniences for patients such as translators, sophisticated care or a service that reflects forward thinking and sensitivity to patient needs.
- Research – measures the number of citations in high-impact journals as a percentage.
1. The Princess Margaret: Technologies
For centres designated as a comprehensive cancer centre, the following elements were reviewed for key technologies, all of which the top 5 centres have in addition to The Princess Margaret:
Full-field digital mammography: A procedure that combines c-ray generators and tubes used in analog screen-film mammography with a detector plate that converts the x-rays into a digital signal to help diagnose breast cancer.
Image-guided radiation therapy: An automated system that provides
high-resolution x-ray images to pinpoint tumour sites, adjust patient positioning as necessary, and complete treatment within the standard treatment time slot, allowing for more effective cancer treatments.
PET/CT scanner: A machine that combines PET and CT capabilities in one device to provide metabolic functional information and images of physical structures in the body for diagnostics and monitoring chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgical planning.
Robotic surgery: The use of computer-guided imaging and manipulative devices to perform surgery without the surgeon’s direct intervention.
Shape-beamed radiation: A non-invasive procedure that delivers a therapeutic dose of radiation to a defined area of a tumour to shrink or destroy cancerous cells.
Stereoactive radiosurgery: A radiotherapy modality that delivers a high dosage of radiation to a discrete treatment area in as little as one treatment session. Variants include Gamma knife and Cyberknife.
Transplant services: Hospitals listed as bone marrow transplant centres in the American Hospital Association (AHA) are recognized.
2. The Princess Margaret: Patient Services
Major cancer centres work to accommodate as many patients as possible with the most sophisticated care. The following elements were reviewed from the annual American Hospital Association (AHA) survey, and only leading comprehensive cancer centres included all of the below, in addition to The Princess Margaret:
Genetic testing/counseling: A service equipped with adequate laboratory facilities and directed by a qualified physician to advise parents and prospective parents on potential problems in cases of genetic defects.
Hospice: A program that provides care (including pain relief) and supportive services for the terminally ill and their families.
Pain-Management Program: A program that provides specialized care, medications, or therapies for the management of acute or chronic pain.
Palliative Care: A program that provides care by specially-trained physicians and other clinicians for relief of acute or chronic pain or to control symptoms of illness.
Patient-controlled analgesia: A system that allows the patient to control intravenously administered pain medicine.
Translators: A service provide by the hospital to assist non-English-speaking patients.
Infection isolation room: A single-occupancy room designed to minimize the possibility of infectious transmission, typically through the use of controlled ventilation, air pressure, and filtration.
3. 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.
From the top 5 cancer research centres listed in the survey, the percentage of researchers cited in high-impact journals was measured, and The Princess Margaret ranked third. Below is the percentage of published papers that occur in high-impact journals (includes papers in oncology, immunology, molecular biology and genetics as well as multidisciplinary journals): Click Here for more information
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (17.1%)
- Mayo Clinic Cancer Center (14.9%)
- Princess Margaret Hospital (13.4%)
- The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center (13%)
- University of Washington (12.2%
- M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (10.7%)
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