For seven of the past nine years, including 2010, MD Anderson has ranked No. 1 in cancer care in the “America’s Best Hospitals” survey published by U.S. News & World Report.

Research and Clinical Achievements

M. D. Anderson…

• Ranks first in the number of grants awarded – including 10 Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) grants – and total amount of grant dollars from the National Cancer Institute.
• Demonstrated in clinical studies that “lumpectomy” followed by radiation for breast cancer can be as effective as radical mastectomy, now a standard practice worldwide.
• Demonstrated that measuring cancer cells circulating in the blood can predict outcomes for patients with advanced breast cancer, thereby helping to identify patients requiring more aggressive treatment to improve survival.
• Documented for the first time the difference in sensitivity to chemotherapy among different genetic subtypes of breast cancer leading to more effective treatment.
• Played a leadership role in an international trial demonstrating that raloxifene, like tamoxifen, can prevent or delay the incidence of breast cancer in high-risk women.
• Pioneered a combined-modality triple treatment strategy for the successful management of locally advanced inflammatory breast cancers, now the standard of care.
• Demonstrated the efficacy of Taxol against breast cancer, now standard treatment.
• Showed that chemotherapy can safely be given after the first trimester to pregnant women with breast cancer.
• Developed mammography technology and showed that mammography can detect breast cancer at early, highly curable stages, leading to adoption of standardized screening mammography.
• Created the nation’s largest bone marrow transplantation program enabling treatment of over 600 patients with high dose chemotherapy annually.

More Information About M.D. Anderson:

• In the last 60 years, M. D. Anderson has built a worldwide reputation for excellence in cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. Read more…
• 10 Steps Toward Diversity – M. D. Anderson owes much of its reputation as a world-class cancer center to a culturally diverse workforce with unique and valuable skills. The Office of Institutional Diversity (OID) builds on that foundation with a 10-point initiative to recruit and retain minority and female employees.
• In 2008, U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Hospitals” survey ranked M. D. Anderson as the top hospital in the nation for cancer care. M. D. Anderson has achieved the top ranking four times in the past six years and has ranked as one of the top two hospitals for cancer care for 19 years, since the magazine began its annual survey in 1990.