In addition to the six Research programs centered at the Yale Cancer Center, there are four transdisciplinary centers that enhance the investigative activities that occur in YCC. The largely lab-based centers bring institutional resources and recruits to the research effort, while spanning the research programs. Most of the center members are also members of YCC.
One of the newest centers is the CMCO or Center for Molecular and Cellular Oncology, which includes physician-scientists who run substantial laboratory efforts, see patients in the clinic, and train fellows and residents. The CMCO’s goal is to move basic science discoveries to the clinic more rapidly and to bring clinical findings to the lab. The Yale Center for Immuno-oncology (YCIO) is closely aligned with the Cancer Immunology Research Program and provides resources to further basic and applied cancer immunology research. The Yale Cancer Biology Institute connects scientists from across Yale to study the common underlying causes of cancer. The institute has nine labs working to understand core cellular and molecular links across multiple cancers.
Two centers — the Yale Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy and Effectiveness Research (COPPER) Center and the Center for Community Engagement and Health Equity (CEHE) — have goals and missions that aim to understand and forge connection between the study of cancer biology and therapies with the broader community of patients, caregivers, friends, families, and citizens through Connecticut. CEHE focuses on several aims to help reduce the cancer burden in Connecticut by nurturing trust-building relationships with residents from all financial, educational, religious, and ethnic backgrounds in all its towns and cities from rural to urban; by supporting research that helps bring the promise of lab results into tangible cancer therapies; and by helping prepare a future multi-disciplinary workforce for Yale. COPPER houses six current grants that involve work with large health outcomes data sets to reveal patterns in healthcare that help or hinder outcomes. It is an inter-programmatic center comprising YCC members across multiple research programs including Cancer Prevention & Control, Developmental Therapeutics and Radiobiology and Genome Integrity. The DeLucaCenter for Innovation in Hematology Research awards pilot and career development awards in hematology research.