Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center 

Fred Hutch Outreach Programs

Helping Washington State Science Teachers 
Our Science Education Partnership (SEP) began in 1991 to support science education for both public and private secondary school students in the most powerful  manner – by educating and equipping their classroom teachers. It is one of the nation’s most effective programs, reaching more than 30,000 students per year. Each summer, Washington state science teachers enroll in our three-week intensive session, which offers them the opportunity to work on laboratory projects with mentors, develop specific curricula, and access crucial materials for the school year. The program is particularly important for underfunded science classes that may lack the most basic educational tools. Once teachers have participated in SEP, they may continue to borrow “kits” to perform experiments in their classrooms - these sophisticated materials prepare students to transition to college level laboratory experiments. With current state cuts in the number of skilled teachers and materials, SEP fills an increasingly crucial role in preparing students for college.       

Survivorship Program
Designated in 2006 by the Lance Armstrong Foundation as one of only eight national LIVESTRONG Survivorship Centers of Excellence, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Survivorship Program offers high quality, comprehensive services to cancer survivors through a network of community-based survivorship affiliated programs, with an emphasis on providing equal access to all cancer survivors by narrowing socio-economic, information and geographic barriers. The Survivorship Program offers clinical services, patient education and health promotion, support groups and counseling, community outreach and research. The Program welcomes all survivors, regardless of whether their cancers were diagnosed or treated here or at another center.    

Cancer Health Disparities Initiative
The Fred Hutch website provides excellent information; from disease descriptions, to our research fields, to publications designed for both lay and scientific readers. In addition, we are enhancing our outreach efforts to speak more effectively to society’s most vulnerable. Without access to accurate information about disease prevention or cancer symptoms, an alarming number of these individuals do not visit a doctor when their cancer could be successfully treated. Several of our existing programs have been providing outreach to Native American, Hispanic and African American communities, as well as more disease-specific education such as the prevention of Hepatitis B - but these are just the start. Fred Hutch’s dedication to collaborations between vastly diverse scientists has been a hallmark of our success. This same approach will help us strengthen and increase partnerships with community health organizations serving vulnerable populations and also enable us to reach out more directly and effectively to underserved individuals.

Improving Public Health Through Prevention and Intervention
The Hutchinson Center’s researchers continue to discover strategies to reduce the incidence of and mortality from cancer and other diseases. For example, Fred Hutch was the coordinating center for the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI); a 15-year study that focused on strategies for preventing heart disease, breast and colorectal cancer and osteoporosis in more than 160,000 postmenopausal women. Among the WHI’s landmark findings was demonstrating the adverse effects of combination hormone-replacement therapy on both the risk of breast cancer and cardiovascular disease in the majority of postmenopausal women. This knowledge has led to major changes in health services worldwide – it is estimated that annually, approximately 15,000 women are spared from developing invasive breast cancer in the U.S. alone as a result of changes in hormone therapy use. The data collected from the WHI continue to serve as a foundation for many on-going Fred Hutch projects devoted to improving women’s health throughout the world. The Hutchinson Center’s Cancer Prevention Program is home to scientists whose discoveries laid the groundwork for the vaccine for human papillomavirus, a principal cause of cervical cancer. These collaborations are examples of a wide array of public health projects originated by Fred Hutch researchers to share with the public and clinicians about prevention, early detection, and new, effective therapies that improve health care practices and save lives.

Under the leadership of President and Director Dr. Larry Corey, an internationally renowned expert in virology, immunology and vaccine development, Fred Hutch is continuing its peerless research in the discovery and development of treatments for cancer and many life-threatening diseases on a national and global basis. Dr. Corey has spear-headed a wholly unique type of collaboration among cancer centers by uniting a Fred Hutch research team with the Uganda Cancer Center, forming the UCI/Hutchinson Center Cancer Alliance – a wholly unique type of opportunity for scientist clinicians to study the causes, biology, treatment and prevention of pathogen-associated cancers in a region where six of the ten most common cancers are caused by infectious disease. Dr. Corey is challenging our investigators to think beyond any pre-conceived limitations and aim for bold, new transformative breakthroughs. Cross-disciplinary specialists are focusing on large scale research in areas such as immunotherapy, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, gene-targeted correction, cancer vaccines and cancer genomics.  

As testament to our scientific excellence, among independent research institutions, Fred Hutch is consistently one of the top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health. This bedrock of support has contributed to our numerous cancer-research accomplishments over the past three decades. However, today the pace and potential of research has accelerated vastly and cannot be supported by government awards alone; a situation exacerbated by the flattening and future reductions in scientific research grants proposed by Congress for the NIH budget. As an independent institution, Fred Hutch’s revenue does not rely upon state support, in-patient hospital fees or student tuition – gifts from our community and grants are exceptionally important now to compensate for the decline in our sizeable historic federal support.

Learn more about Fred Hutch’s recent accomplishments at:

http://www.fhcrc.org/content/public/en/diseases/research-highlights.html.