he Cancer Institute is home to the ACT Tobacco Treatment, Education and Research program that provides medication and counseling to help Mississippians quit using tobacco, a risk factor in dozens of cancers. In fact, it is considered the leading cause of lung cancer, with the American Cancer Society attributing almost 90 percent of lung cancers to smoking.

The Cancer Institute, through University Cancer Care, its medical arm, also provides screening for multiple cancers in hopes of finding cancer early when chances of successful treatment are highest. In fact University Cancer Care is among the first hospitals to provide low-cost, low-dose CT lung cancer screening for older, heavy smokers, a screening that research shows can detect lung cancer earlier when chances of treating it are better. The Cancer Institute launched this website with these goals in mind: help educate Mississippians about cancer and urge them to get the appropriate screening for cancers we can detect early.

For those who have cancer, University Cancer Care offers aggressive treatment through teams with expertise in that particular cancer. This means your surgeon, medical and radiation oncologists, radiologist, pathologist and allied health care professionals meet to discuss each patient’s case so they can offer the best treatment recommendation for that person. These teams offer state-of-the-art treatment for adults and children. And, should a patient have other conditions their team can call on multiple specialists at UMMC for help or recommendations. To find members of our cancer care teams, go to our website and search for care teams.

University Cancer Care is the only hospital in the state that can offer some cancer treatments including bone marrow or stem cell transplants, liver transplants and radiation oncology to pediatric patients.