Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Centers is one of the largest pediatric oncology and blood disease center in the United States. The 2019–20 edition of U.S. News & World Report ranked Texas Children's Hospital among the top 3 best children's hospitals in the United States and #3 in the subspecialty of pediatric cancer. It is located in Houston, Texas. The facilities of the multidisciplinary center, located at Texas Children's Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, includes a 36-bed inpatient unit, a outpatient clinic and a 15-bed bone marrow transplant unit, as well as 47 research laboratories. Each year the center provides a specialized level of care to more than 4,000 children and adolescents newly diagnosed with cancer and blood diseases. The center is staffed by nationally and internationally recognized experts who have made major clinical and research advances in the treatment of childhood malignancies. Residents completing core programs in pediatrics may enter accredited subspecialty training in the Baylor College of Medicine hematology/oncology fellowship program. The Center has three NIH-funded training grants. Current research programs include molecular oncology, tumor cell biology, developmental therapeutics, cancer genetics and genomics, cell and gene therapy, transplantation biology, tumor immunology and neuro-oncology. A major focus of the center is to develop innovative therapies for those pediatric cancers and blood disorders that pose the greatest challenges for cure.
History
Originally called the Research Hematology-Oncology Service, Texas Children's Cancer Center was founded by Dr. Donald J. Fernbach in January 1958. The National Cancer Institute provided the first grant that the center was funded on. In 1959, the first bone marrow transplant from one identical twin to another was performed by Fernbach; this was one of the first procedures of its kind for aplastic anemia. The Hematology Center at Texas Children's Hospital has been treating children diagnosed with hematological disorders since 1958. A comprehensive program for screening newborns at the Harris County Hospital District facility was initiated in 1975. The center assisted in establishing a newborn screening program in the state of Texas that is administered by the Texas Department of State Health Services. Referrals for patients diagnosed with sickle cell disease are received from the East Texas region and 20 counties surrounding the greater Houston area. In 2001, a Sickle Cell Center at Texas Children's Hospital was formed to provide comprehensive care to the patients being followed by the service.
Affiliates and institutional collaborations
Educational institutions
Texas Children's Hospital is affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine. Senior Baylor College of Medicine faculty members oversee the Cancer Center’s efforts in basic and clinical research.
Inter-institutional collaborations
In March 2009, The Retinoblastoma Center of Houston became the world's first retinoblastoma center made up of more than two centers. The multi-institutional collaboration involved scientists from Texas Children's Cancer Center, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center's Children's Cancer Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, and Houston Methodist Hospital.
Outreach clinic
The Vannie E. Cook Jr. Children’s Cancer and Hematology Clinic is an outreach clinic of the Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Centers. It is located in McAllen, Texas along the Texas-Mexico Border. In the last ten years, the clinic has treated more than 5,000 children with cancer or hematologic disorders. The clinic is led by medical director Dr. Juan Carlos Bernini and by Dr. Rodrigo Erana, both assistant professors of pediatrics – hematology/oncology at Baylor College of Medicine, along with a pediatric nurse practitioner, a staff of registered nurses, social workers, clinic technicians and administrative support.
As a part of Texas Children's Hospital, the center is designated a nonprofit medical corporation chartered as a 501 tax-exempt organization under the IRS. In 2011, Robert Duvall appeared at a record-breaking Houston charity event when he was interviewed by Bob Schieffer for 'An Evening with a Texas Legend'. The event raised over $9 million.
