NWBioSpecimen is a Collaborative Resource

The Fred Hutch (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center) is a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. The mission of Fred Hutch is the elimination of cancer as a cause of human suffering and death. Fred Hutch conducts state-of-the-art research to improve prevention and treatment of cancer and related diseases. Fred Hutch is a privately operated, non-profit institution dedicated to the prevention, therapy, and control of cancer, and the advancement of biomedical knowledge through laboratory, clinical and population-based research, the training of scientists, physicians, and other health care workers in cancer research. Fred Hutch researchers use biospecimens to develop new drugs, identify new gene targets for therapy, and produce screening tools to detect cancer earlier. Fred Hutch is a leader in biospecimen-based cancer research.

The Institute of Translational Health Sciences is dedicated to speeding science to the clinic for the benefit of patients and communities throughout Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. ITHS promotes this translation of scientific discovery to practice by fostering innovative research, cultivating multi-disciplinary research partnerships, and ensuring a pipeline of next generation researchers through robust educational and career development programs. ITHS is a partnership between Fred Hutch, Seattle Children’s, and the University of Washington, and is primarily funded by the National Institutes of Health via the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

As a jointly governed, nonprofit entity, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) combines the strengths of the Fred Hutch, UW Medicine, and Seattle Children’s Hospital to provide high-quality, integrated, patient-focused ambulatory and inpatient oncology services. The SCCA outpatient cancer clinic is a state-of-the-art facility adjacent to the Fred Hutch Southeast Lake Union campus that provides a multidisciplinary setting for patient diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up and houses the newly designed Phase I clinical trials unit. The SCCA offers integrated cancer services including comprehensive diagnostic imaging, a full-service clinical laboratory, outpatient clinics, infusion therapy, minor outpatient procedures and surgery, radiation therapy, pharmacy, nutritional consultation, psychiatric and psychological clinics, a specimen processing laboratory, along with a complete array of support services for patients and families. Patients consenting to donate their residual biospecimen tissues at SCCA contribute to cutting-edge cancer research going on in the entire Pacific Northwest region.

UW Medicine’s mission is to improve the health of the public by advancing medical knowledge, providing outstanding primary and specialty care to the people of the region, and preparing tomorrow’s physicians, scientists and other health professionals. UW Medicine owns or operates Harborview Medical Center, UW Medical Center - Montlake, UW Medical Center - Northwest, Valley Medical Center, a network of 18 UW Medicine Neighborhood Clinics that provide primary and secondary care, the physician practice plan UW Physicians, the UW School of Medicine and Airlift Northwest. In addition, UW Medicine shares in the ownership and governance of Children’s University Medical Group and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, a partnership among UW Medicine, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Seattle Children’s Hospital.