Jefferson’s Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center receives highest federal designation

Jefferson Health’s Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, SKCC, is now recognized as a comprehensive cancer center, the highest designation from the National Cancer Institute.

The health system announced Thursday that it had received a designation reserved for institutions doing advanced scientific research and translating the finding into new treatments for cancer patients, said Andrew Chapman, the director of SKCC.

“The charge from the NCI is to lower the cancer burden in those regions that you service,” Chapman said.

SKCC is the third comprehensive cancer center in Philadelphia, and the 57th in the nation. Locally, Jefferson joins Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center and Fox Chase Cancer Center at Temple Health. The Wistar Institute in West Philadelphia is a NCI-designated research laboratory but doesn’t treat patients.

The only city with more comprehensive cancer centers is New York City, which has four.

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The NCI supports these top institutions as part of a decades-old federal plan to combat cancer.

The designation is a step up for SKCC, which has been NCI-designated as a “cancer center” since 1996, and will allow Jefferson to pursue funding opportunities that NCI sets aside for comprehensive centers, Chapman said.

Philadelphia-area patients benefit from the concentration of high-level cancer centers in the city, Chapman said.

Patients of color and those from low-income neighborhoods traditionally have had less access to the newest experimental medications that are undergoing clinical trials.

SKCC has worked to increase the percent of its trial participants who come from underserved backgrounds, expanding access to experimental drugs, Chapman said.

Jefferson also collaborates with other medical and research institutions, such as its an ongoing partnership with Drexel University to advance cancer research.

SKCC serves nearly 9,000 patients every year and is located at the new Honickman Center in Philadelphia’s Center City.