The University of Colorado Cancer Center is Colorado’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. Its published figures describe a statewide cancer-care and research network that includes hundreds of members, multiple hospitals and universities, active clinical trials, and programs spanning prevention through survivorship-related support.
Contents
- At-a-glance profile
- Research funding and output
- Membership and institutional reach
- Clinical care and patient access
- Clinical trials and participation
- Programs, education, and caregiver-relevant support
At-a-glance profile
The center was founded in 1985. Its first five-year NCI cancer center support grant was awarded in 1987, and comprehensive designation was received in 1997, according to CU Cancer Center About Us. The research page separately states that the center became an NCI-designated cancer center in 1988. These are historical milestones reported by the center’s own pages; they are not presented here as independently verified legacy records.
The center describes itself as the only comprehensive cancer center headquartered in and serving the entire state of Colorado (NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center). It is also one of only four NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the 10-state Rocky Mountain Region (CU Cancer Center About Us). The regional figure provides context for the center’s role: its stated geographic position is broader than a single hospital or city, even though many services are delivered through particular clinical partners.
Its mission spans prevention, discovery, early detection, multidisciplinary care, and education (CU Cancer Center About Us). The research structure includes four programs:
- Cancer Prevention and Control
- Tumor Host Interactions
- Developmental Therapeutics
- Molecular and Cellular Oncology
The center’s homepage says multidisciplinary clinics bring together more than 30 experts in one room (CU Cancer Center Home). For patients and caregivers, that model can mean that several treatment specialties participate in a coordinated clinical setting, rather than care being organized around only one discipline.
Research funding and output
CU Cancer Center About Us reports $91.6 million in direct annual cancer research funding. The same page lists 135 NCI grants worth more than $27.3 million. It also lists 280 full and mentored members. These amounts and counts describe the figures displayed by the center; the supplied research record does not provide a separate measurement date for them.
The homepage reports 2,767 publications in the last five years (CU Cancer Center Home). Because the page expresses this as a rolling five-year figure rather than naming calendar years in the supplied information, it is best read as the center’s stated recent publication total, not as a publication count for a fixed period independently reconstructed here.
The funding and publication numbers help distinguish different parts of institutional scale. Direct annual research funding measures financial support in a year. NCI grants measure a subset of awards. Publications measure research output over five years. They should not be added together or treated as interchangeable indicators.
The center’s research activity is connected to clinical work as well. Its about page says adult cancer patients are primarily treated at University of Colorado Hospital, which it describes as ranked among the top 50 U.S. News Best Hospitals (CU Cancer Center About Us). The same source says Children’s Hospital Colorado is ranked number 9 in pediatric cancer care. Those rankings are reproduced as reported by the source and are not assigned a ranking year in the supplied information.
Membership and institutional reach
The center’s about page says approximately 300 members work across labs and hospitals (CU Cancer Center About Us). That page also cites 280 full and mentored members. Meanwhile, the membership page describes more than 500 members (CU Cancer Center Membership). These figures use different labels and should not be collapsed into one total. The approximately 300 figure, the 280 full-and-mentored figure, and the 500-plus membership-page figure may reflect different definitions or page contexts.
The membership page lists six affiliated institutions (CU Cancer Center Membership):
| Affiliated institution | Role in the listed network |
|---|---|
| University of Colorado Denver | Academic affiliate |
| University of Colorado Boulder | Academic affiliate |
| Colorado State University | Academic affiliate |
| University of Colorado Hospital | Clinical affiliate |
| Children’s Hospital Colorado | Pediatric clinical affiliate |
| Denver VA Medical Center | Veterans’ clinical affiliate |
The range of institutions matters for families coordinating care, research participation, education, or practical support. It indicates that the center’s work is distributed across academic and clinical settings, including adult, pediatric, and veterans’ care environments.
The Cancer Prevention and Control program has 57 members, including 43 full members and 14 mentored members (Cancer Prevention and Control). The program represents 24 departments and seven schools. Those counts show how prevention and control work crosses organizational boundaries rather than sitting within a single department.
Clinical care and patient access
The center’s clinical partner network includes four UCHealth locations where patients receive care from CU Cancer Center members (CU Cancer Center Partnerships): University of Colorado Hospital, UCHealth Cherry Creek Medical Center, UCHealth Highlands Ranch Hospital, and UCHealth Lone Tree Medical Center. The homepage also identifies UCHealth, Children’s Hospital Colorado, and the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center as clinical care partners (CU Cancer Center Home).
The center describes its multidisciplinary approach as involving more than 30 experts across treatment specialties (CU Cancer Center About Us). Its homepage says clinical trials can let patients access new treatments years before public availability (CU Cancer Center Home). That statement describes the center’s explanation of trial access; eligibility, timing, and treatment availability are individual clinical questions.
The partnerships page describes Flint Animal Cancer Center as the largest animal cancer center in the United States and as one of only a few programs nationwide offering comprehensive cancer care for companion animals (CU Cancer Center Partnerships). This is a distinct veterinary-care statistic within the broader partnership network, not a measure of human cancer treatment volume.
The center reports outcome comparisons for several cancers in For Many Cancers, 5-Year Survival Rates at CU Cancer Center Exceed National Rates. The figures are stated as how much higher survival rates at UCHealth are than national five-year rates:
| Cancer type | Reported difference versus national five-year rates |
|---|---|
| Esophagus cancer | 91% higher |
| Liver cancer | 79% higher |
| Pancreatic cancer | 77.5% higher |
| Lung cancer | 67.4% higher |
| Stomach cancer | 40.6% higher |
These are comparative percentages, not absolute survival probabilities. The supplied information does not identify the measurement years, patient cohort, or methodology behind the comparison, so the figures should not be interpreted as a forecast for an individual patient.
Clinical trials and participation
The Cancer Clinical Trials Office had 167 active trials, 119 investigators, 367 enrollees in fiscal year 2025, and 175 staff members, according to Jennifer Diamond, MD, Named Medical Director of Cancer Clinical Trials Office. The fiscal-year reference applies specifically to the 367 enrollee figure. The supplied facts do not specify the measurement date for the active-trial, investigator, or staff counts.
The center’s Clinical Trials page states that phase I studies typically enroll 30 to 50 patients. Phase II studies typically enroll 60 to 150 patients. These are typical enrollment ranges, not guaranteed enrollment targets for every study.
| Trial phase | Typical enrollment stated by the center |
|---|---|
| Phase I | 30–50 patients |
| Phase II | 60–150 patients |
The difference between the 367 fiscal-year enrollees and the phase-specific ranges should not be used to calculate an average study size. The office-wide enrollee figure covers the office’s reported activity, while the phase ranges describe typical enrollment for individual studies.
For caregivers, trial participation can involve additional scheduling, travel, communication, and decision support. The available statistics establish the scale of the office and its trial phases, but they do not quantify caregiver workload, financial assistance, travel support, or patient outcomes for a particular trial.
Programs, education, and caregiver-relevant support
The Cancer Prevention and Control program’s 57 members, 24 departments, and seven schools provide a measurable view of the prevention-and-control infrastructure (Cancer Prevention and Control). Prevention and control are part of the center’s stated mission, alongside discovery, early detection, multidisciplinary care, and education (CU Cancer Center About Us). The supplied facts do not provide a separate count of caregiver-support staff, support groups, counseling visits, or caregiver outcomes, so those measures cannot be inferred from the program’s membership totals.
The center’s training program supports graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in cancer biology (CU Cancer Center About Us). Its Cancer Research Experience for Undergraduates serves 35 to 40 college undergraduates each summer and also includes a few advanced high school students. The summer research experience lasts 10 weeks. These figures describe an education and workforce-development pathway rather than patient-care volume.
Taken together, the published statistics show a center with statewide scope, a 10-state regional role, substantial research funding, a large and differently defined membership base, multiple clinical partners, and active trial operations. For someone supporting a person with cancer, the most directly relevant quantified features are the four-location UCHealth clinical network, the more than 30-expert multidisciplinary model, the reported clinical-trial activity, and the center’s stated mission across prevention, early detection, care, and education. The sources supplied here do not quantify the availability or effectiveness of specific caregiver services, so those details require direct confirmation from the relevant care team or program.