About Us
The Center opened officially in the fall of 1999. Organizationally, the Center is divided into two sections: the Breast Care Center and the Breast Research Program.
The Breast Care Center offers comprehensive, multidisciplinary care and includes four sections: breast imaging; breast cancer risk assessment, genetic testing and counseling, and prevention; an evaluation and diagnostic clinic; and a breast cancer clinic. Clinical research is an integral component of the Center, which offers state of the art nationwide and local-regional clinical trials in all aspects of breast health. Training of physicians, fellows, medical students, and other healthcare providers is also an integral function of the Breast Care Center.
The Breast Research Program carries out both basic and translational breast disease and breast cancer research. By studying various aspects of the basic biology of mammary gland development, breast disease, and breast cancer, researchers can then translate that information into improvements in patient care. The research group of physicians and scientists is internationally recognized for its efforts in these areas. Currently this group is one of only six recipients nationally of the NIH Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) Grant in Breast Cancer, which highlights the accomplishments and productivity of the program.
The Smith Breast Center is an independent academic unit at Baylor College of Medicine, functioning much like a department. It has its own budget and its own geographic clinical and laboratory space. The Breast Care Center occupies 21,000 square feet of clinic space on the 13th floor of the Baylor Clinic, while the Breast Research Program has 21,000 square feet of laboratory space in the Alkek Research Building. The Center's annual budget is over 12 million dollars, and it directly employs more than 120 people.
The faculty are appointed in a variety of different departments including Medicine, Pathology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Psychiatry, Radiology, and Human Genetics. Faculty in these and other crucial clinical and basic science departments function as associate members of the Smith Breast Center and interact with the Smith Breast Center on a daily basis. Generous resources are available to recruit 5-7 new faculty members over the next several years. Funds are also available for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and major equipment purchase, so that rapid growth of both the clinical and research programs is expected in the next few years.