Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Prospectus

Advancing our leadership in the fight against cancer

Expediting discovery, enhancing care, and saving lives

LOMBARDI COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER

Georgetown’s drive to do its very best work in service to the common good has shaped centuries of growth and progress.

Today, it animates the university’s $3 billion campaign ambition, calling us to invest in areas of great strength for Georgetown— and even greater opportunity.

Through Called to Be: The Campaign for Georgetown , we will answer—advancing cancer research and treatment to prevent disease, improve outcomes, and deliver cures.

At Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, our mission is to prevent, treat, and cure cancers—through scientific discovery, expert and compassionate patient care, community partnerships, and high-quality education. Our work is guided by the Jesuit principle of cura personalis, or “care of the whole person,” calling us to look past the disease itself; consider each person, family, and community; and eliminate disparities in health care access and outcomes.

As part of an academic medical center, we have a unique ability to leverage scientific discoveries made in one building to save lives in the next. Our clinical partnerships with MedStar Health and Hackensack Meridian Health allow us to serve two of the most important and populous metropolitan areas in the United States—expanding our ability to drive impact nationally. We are a home for internationally recognized trailblazers, attracting these pioneers with our dedication to academic excellence, experiential learning, and the formation of future leaders.

We develop talent in the context of a university committed to service and social justice, calling us to improve health and outcomes for all—here in Washington, DC, and far beyond. I can think of no place better equipped than Georgetown to turn this ambition into action and impact.

Today, Georgetown Lombardi is building on decades of scientific achievements and clinical contributions to lead the fight against cancer. This is the right place and the right time to make the difference that we all want to be able to make. I hope you will join me.

—Louis M.

Weiner, M.D., director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and the MedStar Georgetown Cancer Institute

An internationally recognized oncologist with over 40 years of experience in the medical field, Dr. Weiner has served as director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center since 2008. He is also chair of the oncology department at Georgetown University School of Medicine and director of the MedStar Georgetown Cancer Institute. He specializes in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers and focuses his research on novel immunotherapy treatments.

“The groundbreaking research by the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center is deeply connected to our University’s commitment to advancing health and well-being around the world.

Working at the leading edge of cancer prevention and treatment, researchers at Georgetown Lombardi are enabling new possibilities in the urgent fight against cancer, reaching more patients, helping to save more lives, and inspiring a new generation of medical and scientific leaders to follow their call to serve.”

—JOHN J. DEGIOIA, PRESIDENT, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

Cancer has become a universal part of the human experience. This debilitating disease, and our battles against it, eventually touch every person, family, and community in some way. For many of us, the fight against cancer is too close to home. For all of us, the fight against cancer is a defining challenge of our lifetime. Our scientific and medical communities have made significant strides in prevention and treatment. But there is far more work to be done—and few institutions are better equipped to do it than Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Inspiring hope with holistic expertise

Georgetown Lombardi is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in the Washington, DC, region.

Since our founding in 1970, our work has been guided by a mission to prevent and cure cancers in the spirit of cura personalis, or “care of the whole person.”

Alongside our clinical partners MedStar Health and Hackensack Meridian Health, we look beyond the disease itself, taking a holistic approach that promotes health and human dignity—for each patient, family, and community.

A rare level of expertise and impact

What does it mean to be a “comprehensive cancer center”?

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) awards this extremely selective designation when cancer centers meet a high bar for:

Outstanding patient care

High-impact clinical trials

Transformative research

Outreach to the community

Cancer research career enhancement

Georgetown Lombardi first earned this distinction in 1974, and it was most recently renewed in 2024. NCI reevaluates its designations every five years through a detailed granting process, meaning that we must constantly evolve—implementing technologies, relentlessly pursuing new therapies and treatments, and adopting best-practice research processes.

Building on our strengths to save more lives

By combining—and expanding—our capabilities across research, patient care, interdisciplinary education, and community engagement, we create hope where it would otherwise be scarce.

WE BRING LIFESAVING RESEARCH TO THE BEDSIDE.

There is a direct link between the research we conduct and the care that patients receive. Through our partnership with MedStar Health, Georgetown Lombardi teams fuel a cycle that swiftly brings insights from our benches to MedStar’s bedsides, and then back again. Many Georgetown Lombardi researchers are also practicing clinicians, meaning that patients receive care from the very people who are advancing the field.

WE MEET PATIENTS WHERE THEY ARE.

Everything we do at Georgetown Lombardi is motivated by our community. The health priorities of our catchment areas become our priorities, and those needs shape our research programs, screening and prevention efforts, and clinical mission. By pursuing questions and projects as diverse as the populations around us, we position ourselves to achieve far-reaching impact as a national leader in the fight against cancer.

WE HARNESS CUTTINGEDGE TECHNOLOGY.

As part of an academic medical center, Georgetown Lombardi is able to deploy the latest technological innovations, conducting experiments that were unfathomable just years ago. These groundbreaking approaches, which are available only at comprehensive cancer centers like Georgetown Lombardi, deepen our understanding of cancer and enhance patients’ access to targeted, effective treatments.

WE DEVELOP LEADERS IN CANCER RESEARCH.

Georgetown Lombardi is home to some of the world’s boldest pioneers in cancer research. Experts from many specialty areas advance their work within our walls—and the fruits of their labor directly benefit patients in the communities around us. Beyond attracting these leaders, our team of faculty also works to identify new talent in the sciences through educational programs that engage future leaders.

Philanthropy will be essential as we race toward a world where research has improved prevention, treatments, and cures to the point that a cancer diagnosis no longer instills fear.

Gifts to Georgetown Lombardi will expand the breadth and impact of our work, enabling us to increase research and clinical trial capacity, propel discoveries in emerging fields, advance health equity, and strengthen the scientific workforce.

Expanding lifesaving research

We will increase research and clinical trial capacity.

Every enhancement to Georgetown Lombardi’s research enterprise has an enduring impact, deepening our connections to the patients we serve and fueling a cycle that saves lives.

Inspired by the Jesuit principle of “people for others,” we conduct research and clinical trials with our surrounding communities in mind, ensuring that patients from all backgrounds quickly benefit from groundbreaking discoveries. This dynamic research cycle sets us apart—and sets us up to tangibly improve cancer outcomes.

PROPELLING COMMUNITY-INSPIRED RESEARCH

As a comprehensive cancer center, we oversee a broad continuum of research. Our team publishes hundreds of peerreviewed articles every year, often in the highest-profile medical journals. Their investigations address urgent, patient-focused topics such as:

Cancer cell biology

How can we better identify vulnerabilities within cancer cells—and how can those findings inform research into new therapies?

Cancer-host interactions

How does the relationship between cancer and the body contribute to a disease’s progression and resistance to certain treatments?

Cancer prevention & control

How can we alleviate cancer’s burden on the population and eliminate the health disparities it exacerbates?

Patient-centered objectives guide and unify our whole approach to research. Deeply committed to the populations we serve, we have established working groups dedicated to particular types of disease, issue areas, and functions. These groups bring together clinicians, researchers, scientists, investigators, and other experts from Georgetown Lombardi and our clinical partners MedStar Health and Hackensack Meridian Health.

The collaboration enabled by these working groups creates a direct link between our scientific achievements and the patients and communities where we provide care. Today, we have more than 20 distinct groups working on topics including oncology and hematology, breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, brain tumors, survivorship and aging, and computational biology.

COLLABORATING TO EXPAND OUR IMPACT

Our immediate catchment area— the greater Washington, DC, region from which most of our patients are drawn—is home to more than 4 million people, and nearly 50% selfidentify as racial/ethnic minorities. Together with MedStar Health, we provide care for thousands of the region’s cancer patients each year.

Our partnership with Hackensack Meridian Health in New Jersey further amplifies our reach and research. In 2019, Georgetown Lombardi was formally recognized as an NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center research consortium with John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack Meridian Health. Our collaboration includes studies of novel cancer treatments—from their earliest evaluation in phase I clinical trials through late-phase trials aimed at improving existing therapies—and research that will provide a greater understanding of how cancer affects populations in the Washington, DC, and northern New Jersey regions.

URGENT INQUIRIES

Why are more young people developing colorectal cancer?

In recent years, the incidence of colorectal cancer among young people has increased alarmingly. Benjamin Weinberg, M.D.—an associate professor of medicine and a researcher at Georgetown Lombardi—received $25,000 in philanthropic funding to study this trend. Weinberg and his colleagues analyzed the microbiome of people with colorectal cancer, finding that the makeup of the bacteria, fungi, and viruses in a person’s tumor varied significantly depending on whether they were diagnosed with early-onset or late-onset disease—a key discovery. Dr. Weinberg has since presented his findings at conferences and received NIH funding to continue advancing this critical work.

MAXIMIZING THE IMPACT OF CLINICAL TRIALS

In addition to facilitating cutting-edge research and experimentation, Georgetown Lombardi’s working groups play an essential role in ensuring patients’ access to clinical trials. Our clinical trial work—a core element of Georgetown Lombardi’s ecosystem of experimentation, research, and translation—spans more than a dozen distinct disease groups and several clinical sites, in partnership with MedStar Health and the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack Meridian Health in New Jersey.

Clinical trials don’t just inform the next generation of cures. They offer participants a chance to immediately benefit from research.

990+

ACTIVE CLINICAL TRIALS WITH OVER

12,000

PARTICIPANTS

led by Georgetown Lombardi and our partner researchers from 2019-present

POWERING RESEARCH-DRIVEN PATIENT CARE

These research endeavors—from novel pilot projects to clinical trials—inspire our approach to patient care, which we advance in partnership with MedStar Health.

Georgetown Lombardi clinicians contribute to the delivery of compassionate, high-quality treatment for patients from a diverse array of backgrounds. Our comprehensive health care team includes esteemed oncologists, resident physicians, nurses, social workers, nutrition counselors, and more—with Georgetown Lombardi’s research fueling their collective expertise.

Sustaining and growing Georgetown Lombardi’s research enterprise requires significant investment. Every new resource, from equipment and technologies to working-group personnel and experts, increases our impact. With your support, we will launch new pilot studies, expedite promising research, unearth new treatments, and bring transformative care to the bedside— fueling the research cycle that makes Georgetown Lombardi so extraordinary.

ADVANCING STATE-OFTHE-ART CANCER CARE WITH MEDSTAR HEALTH

Through our partnership with MedStar Health, the region’s largest not-for-profit health care system, we contribute to the following clinical departments:

• Adult Hematology/Oncology Clinic

• Betty Lou Ourisman Breast Health Center

• Blood and Bone Marrow Transplantation

• Clinical Coagulation Laboratory

• Genetic Counseling

• Gynecologic Oncology

• Infusion Center

• Palliative Care & Pain Management

• Pediatric Hematology/Oncology

• Psychosocial Oncology

Accelerating promising innovations

We will advance emerging fields to enhance patient outcomes.

As a comprehensive cancer center, we are constantly searching for ways to harness new technologies and innovations that can improve treatment and survival. We have decades of experience spearheading transformative discoveries, paving the way for more nimble and varied approaches to patient care.

These breakthroughs don’t happen overnight; they take years of diligent experimentation. Georgetown Lombardi is leading across a number of these fields—and we are ready to expedite that cutting-edge work.

VITAL THERAPIES

Hope in the face of Stage 4 melanoma

In November 2006, Emily Micale Moe received the devastating news of a melanoma diagnosis. A law school student at the time, Moe battled the disease, even taking the New York Bar Exam as she was receiving treatment. In 2013, Moe learned that the melanoma had spread, resulting in a mass in her small intestine. Moe sought out Michael B. Atkins, M.D. at Georgetown Lombardi—a decision that changed her trajectory. Under his care, Moe received an innovative new drug that targeted a specific mutation in her tumor. It has helped her remain cancer-free for years, and now she and her husband are looking toward the future. Immunotherapy helped save Moe’s life—and philanthropic support will enable Georgetown Lombardi to give more patients that hope.

“Clinical trials are tests of new therapies: they work for some people, they don’t work for everybody. That new treatment then becomes the floor on which we build subsequent therapies…Philanthropy and donations allow us to answer critical questions that lead to the next advances.”

—Michael B. Atkins, M.D., deputy director of Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, William M. Scholl Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Oncology, physician in the Division of HematologyOncology at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital

TAKING IMMUNOTHERAPY TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Cancer immunotherapy is one area where Georgetown Lombardi scientists have made incredible progress. A treatment that is generally less toxic than chemotherapy, immunotherapy allows researchers and clinicians to harness and strengthen the body’s immune system to fight abnormal cells. Our experts have developed approaches to immunotherapy that dramatically improve care for some cancer patients. This type of treatment saves lives.

However, immunotherapy researchers still face obstacles—for instance, in treating solid tumors—and support for their work will be crucial to additional progress. We want to make these therapies accessible and effective for every patient. With donor support, Georgetown Lombardi will establish a central institute to consolidate our broader immunotherapy research efforts and lay the foundation for high-impact work in basic and translational cancer immunology.

The 3D structure of a melanoma cell

DELIVERING BETTER CARE WITH BIOINFORMATICS

Bioinformatics and data science also are fields where technologies are enhancing our ability to identify and deploy the most effective therapies for a particular type of cancer and patient. Recent attention on big data and artificial intelligence has put a spotlight on these sorts of innovations, but Georgetown Lombardi has been investing in them for more than a decade.

Launched in 2012, the Georgetown Lombardi Innovation Center for Biomedical Informatics is dedicated to enhancing clinical and translational research through biomedical data analysis. This technology improves our ability to deliver holistic and successful patient care, and we seek to realize its promise by expanding our research funding and team of bioinformatics investigators.

UNRAVELING THE MYSTERIES OF AGING

As more than half of cancer cases occur among Americans age 65 or older, the relationship between aging and cancer risk has emerged as an increasingly important issue in population health. Scientists at Georgetown Lombardi’s Institute for Cancer and Aging are striving to understand the mechanisms of aging and cancer to prevent disease and help cancer survivors have more, and healthier, years.

Additional resources for research, lectures, and endowed chairs and professorships will enable us to amplify our work on instrumental topics such as reversing cell aging, the impact of lifestyle modifications on cancer risk, and the link between age and treatment efficacy.

Georgetown Lombardi scientists are aggressively pursuing advances across all of these areas, and we are capable of far more. Philanthropy will be the key that unlocks rapid progress in emerging fields—opportunities that have limited access to federal research dollars but exceptional promise to transform clinical care.

Reducing health disparities

We will promote health equity and broaden access to preventive care.

According to the World Health Organization, as many as 30-50% of cancer deaths could be avoided with better prevention and detection. Yet, so much of care delivery is focused on responding to illness, rather than proactively addressing risk factors or enabling early screening. This is especially true for underserved populations—creating disparities with huge implications for patient outcomes.

Georgetown Lombardi has harnessed the power of community outreach to widen access to preventive care and screening in underserved neighborhoods, and we intend to build on that momentum.

Ribbon cutting for the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center

COMMON FORMS OF CANCER AFFECTING OUR COMMUNITIES

• Lung cancer

• Breast cancer

• Prostate cancer

• Colorectal and GI cancers

• Liver cancer

• Blood cancers

• Pancreatic cancer

Our patient population

Georgetown Lombardi’s catchment areas are the geographical zones in which the vast majority of our patients reside. We work to address the distinctive cancer burdens of these communities.

Passaic County

Bergen County

Hudson County

MEETING PATIENTS WHERE THEY ARE

With our location in the nation’s capital, we have an opportunity, and a responsibility, to address health disparities in our own backyard and spearhead evidence-based programs that inform national cancer policies. We further this work through a number of DC-based initiatives and collaborations. Georgetown Lombardi also maintains a research partnership with John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack Meridian Health in New Jersey, which enables us to effect change well beyond the District.

ADDRESSING DRIVERS OF HEALTH DISPARITIES

Georgetown Lombardi’s Office of Minority Health & Health Disparities Research plays an essential role in our work to address the biological and environmental causes of cancer health disparities. Founded in 2008, the office examines and confronts drivers of health disparities in Washington, DC, through a combination of research, training, community outreach, and education.

Alongside this critical work, the office oversees the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention at Georgetown Lombardi, which was founded in April 2023 and made possible by a generous gift from the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation. Based in Southeast DC—where the city’s health disparities are most severe—the center takes a holistic approach to promoting health and human dignity. Through patient navigation services and educational programming, the center supports disease prevention, early detection, and clinical trial participation, expanding access to care for breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers.

“We are part of the fabric of the community. The bulk of the work of the [Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention] happens in the community and includes venues such as churches, public housing, federally qualified health centers, local community clinics, homeless shelters, and grocery stores, just to name a few places.”

—Lucile L. Adams-Campbell, Ph.D., founding director of the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention, associate director for minority health and health disparities research, senior associate dean for community outreach and engagement, and Distinguished University Professor of Oncology at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center

EARLY INTERVENTIONS

Beating lung cancer through early detection

Since 2018, Georgetown Lombardi has spearheaded an effort to conduct thousands of screenings for lung cancer among at-risk patients, many from medically underserved minority groups. The screenings have led to the detection of dozens of earlystage, curable lung cancers. Philanthropic support will enable us to replicate these results for other forms of cancer—and save lives in the process.

REMOVING LEGAL HURDLES TO HEALTH

“Getting guidance is amazing when you are going through something life-changing and terrifying. …Mentally and physically, it relieves a lot of pain. Everyone needs that.”

—Daniel Lopez, medullary thyroid cancer patient who received patient navigation and assistance through the Cancer LAW Project and Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention

In order to connect patients with effective medical care and help them overcome health-harming legal obstacles, the Ralph Lauren Center also collaborates with Georgetown’s Health Justice Alliance (HJA). Launched in 2016 by Georgetown University Medical Center and Law Center, the HJA is an academic medical-legal partnership that trains future doctors, health care professionals, and lawyers to help patients navigate our complex health and justice systems.

Through its Cancer Legal Assistance & Well-being (LAW) Project, the HJA helps address the unmet legal needs that deter cancer patients from receiving treatment—connecting patients with legal services, advancing communication between health care and legal teams about patient needs, and helping patients navigate potential barriers to care.

Your support will increase our ability to make health care accessible and equitable. Investments in leadership and programming will be crucial as we seek to enhance community engagement and patient navigation services, external partnerships, and experiential learning opportunities.

Strengthening

the workforce

We will educate future generations of STEM leaders.

Georgetown Lombardi’s standing as a national leader in cancer research and clinical care is a product of the talented scientists, physicians, and experts who walk our halls. Their knowledge and dedication have been integral to our progress in the fight against cancer.

For that to continue, the leaders of tomorrow need to receive outstanding training and education today. By boosting outreach to students, widening access to internships, and investing in the faculty who help nurture talent, we will cultivate a strong, diverse pipeline of cancer specialists.

Participants and mentors from the 2023 Diversity in Cancer Research Undergraduate Internship Program

GROWING THE TALENT PIPELINE

As part of an academic medical center dedicated to caring for people holistically, Georgetown Lombardi plays a crucial role in bringing the brightest minds into the fight against cancer. We have no time to waste: the United States faces a looming shortage of thousands of health care and STEM professionals, threatening to delay lifesaving discoveries.

Through Georgetown Lombardi’s Education and Training Program, we offer educational opportunities that support participants at all stages of career development—from K-12 students to members of our faculty.

Some of these initiatives, such as the Georgetown Lombardi Young Scholars Program, reach students as early as elementary school. Others offer high school research volunteer opportunities, undergraduate internships for students from backgrounds historically underrepresented in research and medicine, and Ph.D. programs and postdoctoral fellowships for advanced researchers.

The education and training program at Georgetown Lombardi

Georgetown Lombardi recruits, educates, and trains the next generation of basic and clinical cancer researchers through a range of degree programs and initiatives designed to attract individuals of all backgrounds and experience levels:

M.S. in Biostatistics

M.S. in Epidemiology

M.S. in Health Informatics & Data

Science

M.S. in Tumor Biology

Ph.D. in Biostatistics

Ph.D. in Tumor Biology

Postdoctoral Training in Tumor Biology

Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program

Cancer Population Science Program

Cancer Biology, Prevention & Control Program

Diversity in Cancer Research Undergraduate Internship Program

High School & Undergraduate Summer Research Volunteer Programs

Pipeline in Aging Career Training Program

Community Outreach and Engagement Internship at the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention

FORMATIVE OPPORTUNITIES

Engaging the next generation of scientific leaders

In Spring 2023, the Georgetown Lombardi Young Scholars Program sponsored two daylong field trips for third- and fourth-grade students from Van Ness Elementary, a Title 1 public school in Southeast Washington, DC. Designed and funded by Georgetown Lombardi, the program brought students to KID Museum in Bethesda, Maryland, where Lombardi faculty and staff helped them engage in hands-on learning in robotics, computer programming, biology, and engineering.

These community enrichment activities are a critical chance to inspire future scientists and health professionals as we seek to develop a workforce that reflects the diversity of the people we serve. Donor support will allow Georgetown Lombardi to make these opportunities available to even more students in the District, and beyond.

“Early exposure to exciting and meaningful science experiences needs to start as early in the learning process as possible.”

—Rebecca B. Riggins, Ph.D., associate professor and associate director of education and training at Georgetown Lombardi

INVESTING IN STUDENTS AND FACULTY

Internships are a crucial way that Georgetown Lombardi furthers its mission of engaging future cancer researchers, clinicians, and experts. We must ensure that financial barriers do not prevent promising students from seizing these opportunities. By offering additional stipends and resources, we will make participation possible for scholars from a broad array of backgrounds.

Georgetown Lombardi’s faculty and leadership are similarly pivotal in recruiting young scholars and ensuring a rich learning experience. Investing in professorships, chairs, research, and leadership roles will enable us to continue building the kind of team that attracts the best talent.

Philanthropy will be paramount as Georgetown Lombardi works to increase access to inclusive educational and research opportunities and expand resources for the talented leaders who bring these programs to life.

“I

joined Georgetown Lombardi for the incredible mentorship

and

collaboration opportunities.

There are fantastic scientists here, doing incredible work that is related to my own research. I appreciated the supportive, intellectually stimulating atmosphere.”

—Dr. Claire Conley, assistant professor of oncology Conley came to Georgetown Lombardi in 2020 as an assistant professor of oncology and a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program, with a focus on psychosocial issues across the cancer continuum. Her research has received funding from the National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, and Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

“I see the impact of philanthropy every day. It allows us to pursue the early leads and promising science that will one day lead to a cure for cancer.

Bold ambitions are a daily part of our conversation— big, forward-thinking ideas that stretch the imagination and fuel our ability to help cancer patients everywhere.”

—Louis M. Weiner, M.D., director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center

Louis M. Weiner, M.D., at the BellRinger ride to support cancer research breakthroughs at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center

Members of our philanthropic community are essential partners as Georgetown Lombardi pursues its ultimate goal of eradicating cancer. Together, we will accelerate promising experimental and clinical trial research, push the boundaries of science in emerging fields, deploy our expertise to improve the health of our communities, and educate the next generation of leaders in cancer care and research.

Thank you for your support.

To learn more about these priorities, contribute to Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, or plan for future support, please contact us at giving@georgetown.edu.