George Weiner, MD
Director, Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center

The fight against cancer takes many forms.  It includes laboratory researchers working to understand the nature of the cancer cell, clinical investigators working to test new approaches to cancer therapy, physicians and nurses providing care to cancer patients, and advocates working to decrease pain and suffering from cancer in the community though efforts geared towards cancer prevention and early detection. 

I have the privilege of directing the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center and chairing the Iowa Consortium for Comprehensive Cancer Control. This year, I also chair of the National Cancer Institute committee that provides peer review of major academic cancer centers around the country.  In these roles, I am reminded continually of the importance of knowing the burden of cancer, and of being able to track the progress we are making against cancer. 

Monitoring the burden of cancer in our community is the purpose of the Oncology Registry, and the data provided by the Oncology Registry are used by the Cancer Center, the State of Iowa and researchers, clinicians and public health advocates across the United States to understand the effects of prior efforts, and to identify the areas most in need of our attention in the future. 

The data outlined in this report consist of numbers, and may seem to be a calculating and impersonal way to monitor the suffering experienced by people with cancer and their loved ones. However, these data are extremely valuable, as they help us understand where we have been and direct our future efforts. Thus, this report represents an important contribution in the fight against cancer. We are most appreciative of the dedicated staff that developed this Oncology Registry report with this goal in mind.

• Introduction
• Faculty Comments
• Cancer Information Service
• Highlights
• Brain
• Lung
• Prostate
• Registry Staff
• Research Articles
• Calendar Year Report (in pdf format)