UCI-Fred Hutch Collaboration
In 2008, Fred Hutch launched a partnership with the Uganda Cancer Institute in Kampala, Uganda, the first comprehensive cancer facility in a country with approximately 43 million people. The leading causes of cancer death among Ugandan males and females are Kaposi sarcoma and cervical cancer, respectively. The two groups hardest hit by cancer are children under age 12 and middle-aged adults. Nearly one-third of patients diagnosed with cancers are infected with HIV.
Our original research focus in Uganda included discovering and understanding infection-related cancers — including lymphoma associated with Epstein-Barr virus, sarcomas associated with HIV, and cervical cancer due to persistent HPV infection — and has evolved to include other cancers, including breast cancer, that are contributing to escalating cancer rates in sub-Saharan Africa.
Our investigators in Uganda collect data from a large number of patients at a single site, which would be impossible in places like the United States, where infection-related cancers are less common and more widely dispersed. Learn more about the UCI-Fred Hutch Collaboration.
Entrance of the UCI-Fred Hutch Cancer Centre
Patrick Nsaali, a Kaposi sarcoma patient.
Lazarus Okoche prepares a specimen
Dr. Charles Babutunga examines a young patient
Dr. Jackson Orem, UCI's director
A researcher works with data
Diana Basemera prepares a specimen in the histopathology lab
Patient check-in area at the UCI
Children at the outpatient pediatric clinic
Entrance of the UCI-Fred Hutch Cancer Centre
Research Areas
At the UCI-Fred Hutch Cancer Centre, our multidisciplinary research teams of physicians, clinical researchers, basic research scientists, epidemiologists, pathologists, and research and administrative staff are engaged in more than 30 studies that investigate five types of cancers and six types of viruses associated with cancer:
Cancers:
Kaposi sarcoma
Cervical cancer
Breast cancer
Non-Hodgkin lymphomas, including pediatric Burkitt lymphoma
Hodgkin lymphoma
Viruses:
HIV
Epstein-Barr virus
Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus
Herpes simplex viruses
Human papillomavirus
Hepatitis B
A World-Class Cancer Center in Uganda
With our Ugandan partners and support from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s American Schools and Hospitals Abroad program, we built a state-of-the-art facility for research, training, and clinical care on the UCI campus — the UCI-Fred Hutch Cancer Centre, which opened in May 2015. Its three-color brick exterior was designed to match the buildings on the Fred Hutch Seattle campus.
Features of the more than 25,000-square-foot facility include:
- Training center
- Research labs
- Molecular diagnostics lab with DNA sequencing capability
- Histopathology lab
- Biorepository
- Biosafety level 2 lab
- Planned immunology and genomics labs
- UCI’s adult Kaposi sarcoma, gynecologic oncology, adult hematologic malignancy, and pediatric oncology outpatient clinics
In November 2020, the UCI-Fred Hutch Collaboration completed the construction of the new ground-level, adding over 3,800 sq. ft. The new space will house a remarkable biorepository — with more than 150,000 biospecimens from a wide range of viral infections, host immunity, and cancers, as well as a dedicated research records archive and collaborative office space. The Collaboration has plans to open immunology and genomics labs.
In late 2020, the Collaboration began participating in Uganda’s National Testing Program and performs SARS-CoV-2 testing at the facility. As of the end of September 2021, the laboratory team has reported over 3,200 tests and is averaging <24 hours to turnaround results.
Biometric access
Freezer capacity
Safety and monitoring
Real-time temperature monitoring
Biometric access
Door to the biorepository has biometric access and a security camera
Training Ugandan Cancer Specialists
Our training program aims to cultivate the next generation of global oncology leaders in low- and middle-income countries. Over the past decade and a half, we have provided long-term cancer-related training to 14 Ugandan fellows and conducted numerous research and cancer training sessions in Uganda.
