UNC Health’s N.C. Basnight Cancer Hospital, home to the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, is North Carolina’s only public National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, with more than 500 Lineberger members and 50 inpatient beds dedicated to oncology and bone marrow transplant care. The program serves patients across all 100 counties in the state through a fully multidisciplinary model that pairs physicians, researchers and care teams on personalized treatment plans. A recent expansion of decentralized clinical trials allows patients to complete routine visits, monitoring and follow-up care at local UNC Health sites or partner clinics while reserving complex procedures and specialized treatment for the Basnight Cancer Hospital, thus reducing the travel burden that has historically kept rural and underserved patients from enrolling in research. The hybrid model also relies on telemedicine-enabled tumor boards to extend academic-level expertise beyond the flagship campus. UNC Lineberger has been named to Newsweek‘s “America’s Best Cancer Hospitals” list and Money magazine’s “Best Hospitals for Cancer Care” ranking, and its research portfolio includes dozens of active grants totaling millions of dollars in funding.
