Dartmouth Cancer Center has opened a new state-of-the-art Cellular Therapy Unit at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, expanding our ability to provide advanced cancer care closer to home.
The 32-bed inpatient unit is designed to support complex hematologic care, stem cell transplants, cutting-edge immune effector cell therapies, and bispecific antibodies, as well as novel clinical trials in a modern, patient-centered setting. It features private rooms with advanced monitoring, the ability to provide intensive care when needed, and specialized environments for patients whose immune systems require extra protection. The unit also includes six dedicated infusion chairs to streamline delivery of outpatient CAR T-cell therapy. Together, these resources increase our capacity to care for patients and advance new treatments.
The new unit is a cornerstone of IMPACT, Dartmouth Cancer Center’s Integrated Multidisciplinary Program for Advanced Cell and Gene Therapies. IMPACT brings together research, cell engineering, clinical trials, and patient care to help move promising discoveries from the laboratory to patients more quickly.
“This is how we bring more capacity for emerging cell therapies like CAR T, BiTE, and TIL to our patients: living cells can be collected, modified, multiplied, and returned to a patient with the ability to recognize and attack cancer,” says Roy Herbst, MD, PhD, Director of Dartmouth Cancer Center.
“We already see the power of these approaches in blood cancers. Stem cell transplantation and CAR T-cell therapy are giving patients new options and, in some cases, new chapters of life. Now the field is expanding toward solid tumors and even diseases beyond cancer. The science is moving quickly, and our clinical capacity is moving with it.”
This expansion also gives Dartmouth Cancer Center greater capacity to participate in clinical trials, including studies initiated here and those developed with leading academic and industry partners. While Dartmouth and Dartmouth Health have a long record of leadership in immunology, collaboration, and discovery, the new unit will accelerate the connection between discovery and delivery.
Most importantly, it means patients in Northern New England can access increasingly sophisticated cancer treatments without traveling far from home.
“Our multidisciplinary team of clinicians, researchers, nurses, advanced practice providers, clinical trial coordinators, pharmacists, institutional leaders and staff is exceptional. We’re on a mission that matters profoundly in this region: to ensure that geography does not determine whether a patient can reach world-class cancer care,” says Herbst. “Together, with our valued community members and philanthropic partners, we’re building something important here in New Hampshire. With this unit and the broader vision for IMPACT, we can expand access, open more trials, develop new therapies, and set the standard for a new era of bringing advanced care close to home.”