Fresh off the heels of the Basic Cancer Center designation by the National Cancer Institute, the Cancer Center at Illinois’ (CCIL) met with a delegation from Carle Health to fortify a key local partnership in the fight against cancer.
While the two institutions have collaborated in the past through initiatives such as the former CSTAR program, leadership from the CCIL and Carle Health recognized an opportunity to more systematically align their respective strengths for a new era of collaboration—one that delivers better cancer diagnostics, treatment, and patient outcomes.
Hosted by Carle Health, thirty-six representatives from the CCIL and Carle Health met to build momentum in this strategic partnership. The gathering provided space for the introduction of new researchers and clinicians at both institutions, discussions of possible future research collaboration initiatives, and the exchange of mutual interest in offering research and clinical strengths to fortify the healthcare mission of both institutions.
Nearly 40 representatives from the Cancer Center at Illinois and Carle Health met for a strategic collaboration event at Carle in April 2026.
“By strengthening our partnership with Carle Health, a key regional healthcare institution, the CCIL will be able to advance our strategic goal to systematically improve our translational research pipeline,” said Ron Payne, CCIL Assistant Director for Program Operations. “The CCIL’s transformative work in cancer engineering will be realized only through its integration within a patient-facing healthcare organization. Carle Health’s comprehensive medical services in the region are a natural and welcome fit for the CCIL’s translational research.”
Dr. Georgina Cheng, a gynecological oncologist at Carle Health and Clinical Assistant Professor at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine (CI MED), expressed a vision for partnership with the CCIL: “Carle Health is deeply committed to fostering strong, cross-disciplinary research partnerships that advance innovation and improve patient care. Collaborating with the Cancer Center at Illinois brings together complementary strengths in clinical care, engineering, and translational research. By working together, we can accelerate discovery, bridge the gap between bench and bedside, and create meaningful solutions that directly benefit our patients and the broader community.”
The sky is the limit for scientific and clinical collaboration opportunities, each of which is accelerated by a key variable the two institutions share: proximity. This feature of Carle Health, CI MED, and the CCIL’s location serves as a robust healthcare corridor in Urbana, Illinois, that holds promise for a stalwart pipeline of cancer research, training, education, and advocacy.
“It’s significant for the CCIL, as a basic science cancer center, that we have a very active clinical oncology center, being Carle Health, just down the street,” said Dr. Timothy Fan, CCIL Associate Director for Translational Research and Development. “The era of virtual meetings certainly has its advantages, but the ability to have a Carle physician visit my lab here at the College of Veterinary Medicine, or for me to go and observe a Carle physician in their clinical setting, or to interface with Carle’s medical residents and CI MED students—that’s very instrumental for fostering the most productive research outcomes that can positively impact the lives of cancer patients in the state of Illinois. The next chapter in the CCIL-Carle collaborative relationship holds great promise for the future of the CCIL’s research, education, and training.”
Both the CCIL and Carle have much to gain from a future of deepened partnership. Representatives from both institutions pointed to an interest in inviting CCIL Working Group leaders to present at Carle’s monthly physicians’ meeting, and Carle representatives expressed interest in joining CCIL Working Groups. The CCIL is also keen to promote Carle’s new services that offer anonymized patient data and medical samples to CCIL members for their consideration in strategic research projects.
“This event reimagines a new chapter of collaboration,” concluded Fan. “Whether it’s in the arena of bioinformatics, organoids, or computational models, the CCIL’s unique innovation capacity united with Carle’s clinical insight and experience can pave a pathway for more effective solutions for patients with cancer.”
Moving forward, according to Cheng, the two institutions plan to develop targeted collaborative projects, strengthen working groups, and create more opportunities for clinicians and researchers to work side by side. “Ultimately, our goal is to build a sustainable partnership that accelerates translational research and leads to real, measurable improvements in cancer care,” concluded Cheng.
Editor’s notes:
Dr. Timothy Fan is the Associate Director for Translational Research and Development at the Cancer Center at Illinois. Fan is the Khan Family Chair and Professor of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Learn more about Fan’s research here. He can be reached at t-fan@illinois.edu.
This story was written by Jonathan King, CCIL Communications Coordinator.