As one of the world’s oldest and largest private cancer center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City is committed to exceptional patient care, leading-edge research, and superb educational programs. Founded in 1884, the Center has made significant contributions to new and better therapies for the treatment of cancer.
Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s excellent reputation attracts outstanding doctors and researchers from many nations. The close collaboration between the Center’s physicians and scientists is one of its unique strengths, enabling its experts to provide patients with the best care available today as they work to discover more-effective strategies to prevent, control, and ultimately cure cancer in the future.
“A patient at Memorial Sloan-Kettering benefits from receiving care at the very place where physicians and scientists pioneer new treatments, refine standard approaches, and use sophisticated combinations of therapy to increase the cure rate of cancer,” said distinguished cancer surgeon Murray F. Brennan, MD, Vice President for International Programs at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. “Our patients have access to leading-edge diagnostic and treatment options that are often not available at other institutions.”
Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s world-renowned physicians have an extraordinary depth and breadth of experience in diagnosing and treating all forms of the disease, from the most common to the very rare. Each year, we treat more than 400 different subtypes of cancer.
“This level of interdisciplinary specialization can have an often dramatic effect on a patient’s chances for a cure or control of their cancer,” said Dr. Brennan. “As has been demonstrated nationally and internationally, institutional volume is associated with improved patient outcomes, and fewer complications,” he added.
During the past decade, Memorial Sloan-Kettering has made impressive advances in understanding the causes of cancer, particularly the genetic basis of many common cancers, and in developing new approaches for prevention, early detection, and treatment. Its doctors and scientists have published close to 10,000 peer-reviewed articles in medical and scientific journals, including results of hundreds of groundbreaking clinical trials.
Physicians and cancer patients from around the world consult the Center’s doctors every day, and thousands choose Memorial Sloan-Kettering for treatment. In most cases, the first encounter they have with the hospital is through the Elmer and Mamdouha El-Sayed Bobst International Center, whose aim is to coordinate the clinical and personal needs of Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s international patient population with skill, warmth, and concern.
“The Bobst International Center was established to simplify the lives of international patients who are away from home and our staff helps make their visit as comfortable as possible,” said Dr. Brennan, who also serves as Director of the Bobst International Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering.
Before a patient’s arrival, the specially trained staff at the Bobst International Center helps coordinate the information Memorial Sloan-Kettering physicians need to arrange for an opinion by mail, an on-site second-opinion consultation, or medical care. Once medical care is arranged and a schedule is in place, patients receive a portfolio of information that includes confirmed appointments as well as other information to help them better prepare for their trip.
The Center’s guest services staff provides international patients with information and guidance about hotel accommodations or other lodging close to Memorial Sloan- Kettering and assistance in making travel arrangements and accessing ground transportation. They can also arrange for translation services and interpreters to assist during medical consultations and non-medical encounters throughout the city, and assist in offering business and concierge services.
In keeping with the goal of assuring high standards of cancer care for its international patients, Memorial Sloan-Kettering has established relationships with institutions around the world, including AmMed International (Hong Kong); Chulabhorn Cancer Research Center (Bangkok, Thailand); Hospital Sírio Libanês (São Paulo, Brazil); Metropolitan Florence Nightingale Hospital/American Cancer Center (Istanbul, Turkey); Raffles Medical Group (Singapore); and St. Luke’s Medical Center (Philippines).
The Bobst International Center welcomes inquiries and can be reached by phone at 212-639-4900 or contacted via e-mail at intnlprg@mskcc.org
For more information about the Elmer and Mamdouha El- Sayed Bobst International Center Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, visit www.mskcc.org/international.
