Loyola Medicine’s Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center

Researchers at Loyola Medicine’s Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center focus on developing innovative treatments, discovering underlying causes of cancer, and training the next generation of physicians and scientists.

An expanding research ecosystem on Loyola University Chicago’s Health Sciences Campus, the Cancer Center’s team of physician-scientists and researchers seeks to identify strategies to prevent, diagnose, and treat a range of cancers. Loyola Medicine's nationally recognized team of specially trained cancer doctors from a wide variety of clinical specialties take a multidisciplinary approach to providing compassionate care. Our goal: translate discovery into clinical practice to improve patient outcomes and ultimately transform lives.

Our multidisciplinary, collaborative approach applies the best thinking from research bench to bedside, and beyond. For example, Loyola scientists have studied the role of the immune system in fighting cancer. We were the first in Chicago to engineer CAR-T cells from an individual’s T cells. This “living drug,” produced in a state-of-the-art, onsite lab (which can reduce treatment costs) is a potentially curative treatment for leukemia and lymphoma. The Cancer Center’s robust clinical trials program manages an average of nearly 300 clinical trials annually. These trials are important paths to discovery of new treatments.

Training the Next Generation

Our physician-scientists and researchers are committed to training the next generation through graduate and medical student education. Students from Loyola University Chicago’s Biomedical Sciences programs and Stritch School of Medicine work alongside the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center’s nationally recognized cadre of scientists and physicians, many who are influential in their particular fields for their groundbreaking research. Stritch faculty members encourage their students to push the boundaries of science in their quest for cures, treatments, and greater understanding of how cancer cells work.

Among Stritch’s signature research programs is STAR (Student Training in Approaches to Research), an eight-week research education program where medical students are fully engaged in research and guided by a research mentor. At the undergraduate level, the Summer Oncology Research Internship is a highly competitive program for Loyola students who work side by side with Cancer Center scientists for 10 weeks, learning laboratory techniques and the science behind each of their projects. Stritch Biomedical Sciences graduates, fellows, and residents are well positioned to pursue careers in academia, research, health care, and industry.

For more information about Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine, visit luc.edu/stritch.