A Unified Battle Against Cancer: Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center

The statistics are staggering. It’s estimated that 1 in 2 women and 1 in 3 men will develop cancer in their lifetime. 

Yet even with the research that has been taking place for decades across the country, there’s still no cure in sight. But there is hope—and a new way in which the research and treatment of cancer will change the lives of patients and their family members. It will happen at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center. 

“It speaks to our commitment to excellence that we would recruit someone of Dr. Thayer’s caliber. It also speaks to our rising profile that she would choose to be a part of what is happening here in Nebraska.”

THE FUSION OF SCIENCE AND MEDICINE. 

It’s never been done before—at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, silos will be broken, teaming the world’s best clinical physicians in cancer treatment with the world’s best scientists focused on cancer to deliver unprecedented patient care.

Some of the most groundbreaking biomedical and technological tools will be housed in the building, allowing teams to identify drivers behind the specific cancer and dispense customized therapies and treatment for each patient. No longer will there be one approach or one treatment for cancer patients.

In the past, treatments that were available couldn't discern between bad cells and good cells, attacking both simultaneously while creating unavoidable and debilitating side effects. Understandably, it created a culture of fear, not just of the disease, but also of the treatment. For far too long, patients would have to suffer in order to get better. Today, there's the promise of precision therapies that are less toxic and more forgiving.

Sarah Thayer, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Director for Clinical Affairs

and Chief of Surgical Oncology, Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center

The new face of cancer research and care.

Collaboration among team members will be at the forefront of patient care. The team includes professionals like Sarah Thayer, M.D./Ph.D., an internationally recognized physician and scientist who embodies clinical care and research taking place side-by-side.

“It speaks to our commitment to excellence that we would recruit someone of Dr. Thayer’s caliber,” said Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center Director Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D. “It also speaks to our rising profile that she would choose to be a part of what is happening here in Nebraska.” 

Once other noteable clinicians and researchers in the field take notice, they too will want to become part of the very important work being done here—work that will affect patients all across the globe. 

“This is a prominent example that the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center will attract the brightest minds in cancer care and research who will look to take advantage of our world-class infrastructure and collaborate with what is already an outstanding team,” said UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D.

The team of researchers and physicians will make great strides in cancer diagnosis, treatment and healing. The patient will be treated as a whole person, not just the affected part but also the entire body. The patient’s history will be taken into account, as well as other aspects of the person that were never considered before.

Every patient will be treated individually. Every case approached differently. And every recovery one step closer to winning the battle.

Members of Dr. Thayer's pancreatic cancer research team in the lab