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Author: Mary Beckerle, PhD, CEO of Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah
At Huntsman Cancer Institute, our vision is bold:
Passionate individuals and teams
delivering a cancer-free frontier
through scientific discovery and human touch
What do we mean by delivering a cancer-free frontier? To me, it means relentlessly progressing toward a future where cancer is eliminated for every individual in every community.
Despite new challenges the Omicron variant presented in January 2022, Huntsman Cancer Institute remains focused on our vision. Our passionate individuals and teams are more dedicated than ever. This past year, we extended our impact by providing more cutting-edge treatments, opening the first and only proton therapy center in our region. We advanced scientific discoveries. We accrued more patients than ever before on clinical trials that test the newest therapeutic approaches to cancer. We expanded our commitment to patients and their loved ones with construction of the Kathryn F. Kirk Center for Comprehensive Cancer Care and Women’s Cancers.
As the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Mountain West, patients and communities in Utah, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming are counting on us. In this vast region—which includes many rural areas where residents live far from a major medical center—there are significant barriers to cancer prevention and care. We are devoted to addressing these challenges through many programs and interventions, working to reduce health disparities through research and community outreach and bringing Huntsman Cancer Institute to where people live through our mobile screening bus, community clinics, affiliate hospitals, and Huntsman at Home™ program.
"What do we mean by delivering a cancer-free frontier? It means relentlessly progressing toward a future where cancer is eliminated for every individual in every community."
As we look to the future, we also reflect on our remarkable past. In June 2021, we began a new tradition, Founders’ Week, to celebrate the many contributors who established Huntsman Cancer Institute, including the family of our visionary founders, Jon M. and Karen Huntsman, the late former executive director Stephen M. Prescott, MD, and many others. We commemorated the 50th anniversary of the National Cancer Act, an event Jon Huntsman Sr. attended in person while working at the White House in 1971. This particular milestone reminded us of his dream for Huntsman Cancer Institute and the dreams of all those who have helped to build this extraordinary place.
Huntsman Cancer Institute has changed the landscape of cancer care, thanks to the remarkable support of more than one million donors worldwide. With Huntsman Cancer Foundation and our many supporters, we are inspired to dream big and to transform those dreams into action, healing, and hope.
Two years into a worldwide pandemic, we have learned once again that nothing can stop us. In this report, you will read stories of hope, determination, discovery, and love. You will enter the world of Huntsman Cancer Institute and meet some of the people who inspire me each and every day: our patients, providers, scientists, learners, donors, and amazing teams who make Huntsman Cancer Institute so special. Thank you for standing with us to advance the crucial work that will deliver a cancer-free frontier for all.