Cancer
About the Cancer and Blood Disorders Center
Seattle Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center
Seattle Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center treats all childhood blood disorders and cancers – including rare and complex diseases.
Awards and Recognition
In 2012, U.S. News & World Report ranked Children’s Cancer Center 7th best in the country.
Treatment for Childhood and Young Adult Cancer
Our comprehensive, multidisciplinary team of pediatric cancer experts treats 240 patients newly diagnosed with cancer every year – more than any other institution in the region – and provides follow-up care to more than 3,000 children and adolescents.
Seattle Children’s, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and UW Medicine bring together their pediatric and adult oncology programs in the separate, jointly governed Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
In clinics (as outpatients) and in the 33-bed unit on our main campus (as inpatients), children receive advanced diagnosis and treatments, participate in state-of-the-art research studies and get specialized care.
U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks Seattle Children’s as one of the top 10 oncology programs for children and adolescents in the nation.
More than 30 years ago, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center pioneered hematopoietic stem cell transplant, a treatment for blood disorders. Children were the first patients to receive this therapy.
Since that time, more than 2,000 young children and adolescents have received this lifesaving procedure. The Hutchinson Center has been performing hematopoietic stem cell transplants longer than any other program in the world.
Our doctors, nurses and many other staff members are experts at working with children of all ages, from infants through age 21.
In fact, adolescents with cancer tend to do better on treatment plans designed for children than on plans designed for adults. Children’s may be the best place for children, even as they enter adulthood.
What Makes Our Cancer Center Special?
Our physician-scientists are international leaders in research that improves the outlook for young children and teens fighting cancer
Their research and the treatments they are developing are also reducing the side effects and long-term effects patients experience from disease and treatment.
Many of our doctors are leading clinical trials within national organizations, such as Dr. Douglas S. Hawkins with the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), Dr. J. Russell Geyer with the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC) and Dr. Julie R. Park with New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapies (NANT).
This gives our patients the opportunity to receive the most current treatments available.
Our multifaceted research program addresses cancer from a variety of directions
The laboratory research of Dr. James M. Olson aims to improve understanding of cancer cells at a molecular level. Dr. Irwin D. Bernstein develops innovative new drugs to treat cancer.
Our patients benefit from the close partnership of specialists from many disciplines who work together to battle cancer
These disciplines include hematology, oncology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, radiation oncology, general pediatric surgery and transplantation.
Treatment for Blood Disorders
We care for children and young adults with many types of blood disorders, including problems with blood cells, bone marrow and clotting.
Our experts diagnose and treat these diseases, and we offer testing and counseling for families concerned about inherited blood problems. Learn more about our hematology program.