Life-Changing Advancements Since 2011.

The Cancer Center at Illinois began in 2011 as the Cancer Community, led by current Director Rohit Bhargava and a group of over 50 Illinois faculty. These initial members organized regular activities and enabled interactions among faculty through symposia, workshops, and thematic research groups. Within a decade, the community had grown to over one hundred Illinois faculty members, several hundred postdoctoral researchers, and Illinois students. Since then, the CCIL has sustained progress, including membership growth, initiation of research and education programs, regular symposia, increased collaboration, and shared resource growth. As a result, the CCIL has made significant progress in research, cancer funding, and faculty hiring across the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The goal then and now is to unite biologists and technologists, behavioral scientists and computational scientists, chemists, and engineers—all with one mission: to relieve the burden of cancer.

Mission

To initiate and harness the combined power of engineering and basic sciences to transform cancer research, detection, and treatment.

Vision

To be a national hub for cancer science, engineering, and technology with transdisciplinary collaboration and coordination for research and education.