NCI Accredited

The National Cancer Institute accredited the first radiation therapy residency in the country at Penrose Hospital in 1953, and Penrose Cancer Center is among the 25% of programs nationwide that are accredited by the Commission on Cancer.

Penrose Cancer Center has been selected by the National Cancer Institute as a participating site in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Community Cancer Center Program (NCCCP) – one of just 30 cancer centers nationwide and the only one in Colorado to receive this designation. In late 2006, Penrose Cancer Center was awarded an NCCCP contract by the NCI; only 10 such contracts were awarded nationwide. The NCCCP is designed to provide innovative strategies to make care at community cancer programs equal to that provided at university or NCI comprehensive cancer programs. 

In 2010, the NCI is using $80 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to expand research benefitting patients at
Penrose-St. Francis Health Sevices and the other members of the NCI Community Cancer Centers Program.  Learn more here.