The University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC) is a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center located in Baltimore, Maryland. Overview The UMGCCC is located on the medical campus of the University of Maryland in Baltimore, and is part of the university's medical center and its school of medicine as well. All researchers and physicians at the center are also faculty members of the medical school and other professional schools at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. The center actively participates in new drug development and conducts pilot studies and Phase I, II and III clinical trials. In addition to basic and clinical cancer research, cancer center activities include teaching and a strong focus on aggressive treatment for cancer patients in the 40-bed inpatient unit, dedicated Bone Marrow/Stem Cell Transplantation unit, and outpatient facility, which opened in 2005. The center has multidisciplinary clinical programs for all major cancers (breast, brain, cutaneous, head and neck, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, gynecological, hematologic malignancies, and thoracic cancer). History The University of Maryland's cancer center began as the intramural program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the NIH. In 1965, the NCI created an intramural program in the Division of Cancer Treatment (DCT) located at the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Hospital in Baltimore. Chemotherapy for cancer was beginning to be recognized as an integral part of modern cancer care, and the NCI was at the forefront of new approaches. The impetus for this off-campus intramural program was the need for additional beds for the NCI's in-house Phase I and Phase II studies. Because the NCI was a Federal organization, officials selected the Federal USPHS Hospital to serve as the source of beds relatively close to the Bethesda campus. The intramural program was formally designated as the Baltimore Cancer Research Center (BCRC) of the NCI. It included 40 beds, an 8-bed intensive care unit (ICU), a radiation oncology unit, and basic science laboratories of pharmacology and biochemistry, each directed by senior NCI personnel. The facility had the advantage of being close to the home campus, and its laboratory base was located in a city with a large patient population for referral for studies. The BCRC was involved in many studies, and the staff were highly productive, publishing multiple peer-reviewed papers in high-quality journals. For example, many patients in the landmark studies of MOPP treatment for Hodgkin's disease were treated at the