ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Wilmot Cancer Institute in Rochester has been designated as a National Cancer Institute, making it one of only 73 cancer centers across the country to receive the prestigious recognition.

Wilmot currently serves about 3 million people in a 27-county region in western and central New York but the new designation will push its reach even further and allow it to help more people.    

People like 2 year-old Noah Harper, who is currently battling leukemia.

“The nurses and the staff really became our second family and it’s incredible, they really made the best out of a terrible situation for us,” says Maddie Harper, Noah’s mom.

Maddie and Noah were there as Doctors and staff at Wilmot celebrated the national designation which comes with a $10 million grant and puts Wilmot at the forefront for future research funding.

Dr. Jonathan Friedberg, the Director of Wilmot Cancer Institute, is particularly excited about the opportunities in developmental therapeutics. “I think our biggest area that universally our base of scientists and clinicians are excited about, is an area called developmental therapeutics which is creating an infrastructure to more rapidly transport laboratory discoveries into the clinic,” he tells News10NBC. 

The designation will also expand the number of clinical trials available to patients currently fighting cancer. “Cancer is moving so quickly as a field that having access to the cutting-edge treatments and bringing those treatments here to Rochester well before they are available any place else is part of what this designation is about,” says Dr. Friedberg.

Chris Costello is a former cancer patient who had to travel to New York City for an experimental study when he had cancer as a boy.  He’s glad to see that part of the fight would no longer be necessary, “families wouldn’t have to travel to NYC for 6 months, they will be able to have it here now,” he says.

Wilmot’s new designation makes it a premier cancer research and treatment center, a place where people from across the nation may now come for treatment and trials.

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