After witnessing scores of our Facebook friends jumping on this “25 things about me” bandwagon, we at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center decided to join in.

We hope you enjoy our list—and we invite our friends and fans to share their thoughts.

1. Fred Hutchinson may be our namesake, but he wasn’t the person who founded our Center—his brother, Bill, did so in his honor. Bill Hutchinson, a Seattle surgeon, dreamed of creating a place where doctors could pursue their lifesaving cancer research.



2. Also known as “Hutch,” Fred Hutchinson was a Major League Baseball player and manager who died of lung cancer at age 45. During his baseball career, he pitched for the Detroit Tigers from 1939 to 1953 and managed the Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds. He led the Reds to the 1961 World Series against the New York Yankees.



3. Three: That’s the number of Nobel laureates on our faculty.



4. Ever heard of bone-marrow transplantation? Our Center’s founders pioneered that lifesaving procedure, a Nobel Prize-winning accomplishment that has boosted survival rates from nearly zero to upwards of 85 percent for certain types of leukemia.



5. The Hutchinson Center officially opened its doors in 1975. Many luminaries attended our opening ceremonies, including President Gerald Ford, Sen. Edward Kennedy and baseball legend Joe DiMaggio.



6. Many people don’t realize this, but the Hutchinson Center is solely a nonprofit, independent research institution, and patients are no longer treated here. Some of our scientists, however, are also medical doctors who treat patients at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, the patient-care facility that we run in collaboration with the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s.



7. The word “cancer” may be most prominent in our title, but the Hutchinson Center does research on a host of other diseases: autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, and infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, to name a few.



8. In fact, we’re the headquarters for the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, which is an international group of scientists and educators searching for an effective and safe HIV vaccine. The network has sites in 27 cities on four continents.



9. Our mission is to eliminate cancer and related diseases as causes of human suffering and death.



10. More than 2,800 people currently work for our Center, including nearly 250 scientific faculty and close to 400 predoctoral and postdoctoral researchers. About 62 percent of our employees are women.



11. Since 1965, the Center has been giving out the “Hutch Award” to a Major League Baseball player who best exemplifies Fred Hutchinson’s fighting spirit and competitive drive. Our winner last year was Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester, who several years ago underwent treatment for lymphoma at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Past recipients include Mickey Mantle, Joe Torre, George Brett, Jason Giambi and many others.



12. Some of our more well-known studies over the years have explored the links between lifestyle choices and cancer. We’ve investigated the effects of practicing yoga, exercising regularly, sipping red wine, smoking marijuana and tobacco, and munching on vegetables, to name a few.



13. Our researchers were among the first to recognize that the body’s own immune system can be harnessed to fight off cancer and other diseases. They have since used this technique, called immunotherapy, to beat back aggressive skin and kidney cancers and are working on applying it to other ailments. Added bonus? Far fewer side effects than conventional drugs, radiation or surgery.



14. We may do most of our work in Seattle, but more than a million people worldwide have participated in public-health studies led by our researchers.



15. For more than a decade, scores of mountaineers have raised funds for the Center by scaling peaks ranging from Rainier in Washington to Kilimanjaro in Africa, as part of our Climb to Fight Breast Cancer.



16. Our researchers were the first to develop a molecular test that can detect when a patient still has traces of cancer: It’s sensitive enough to find one blood-cancer cell among a million normal cells. This test allows doctors to quickly prescribe new therapy at the first hint of possible relapse.



17. Our campus borders Lake Union on the north edge of downtown Seattle, which happens to be one of the prime spots for viewing seaplanes, sailboats and fireworks on the Fourth of July. As a fundraiser, we typically auction off our rooftop deck for that occasion.



18. Our campus covers more than 14 acres, and our labs and offices cover 1.3 million square feet.



19. Many of our researchers are highly interested in preventing cancer and detecting it early. The Hutchinson Center leads large international and national projects aimed at discovering new biomarkers—molecules in the blood that signal the earliest stages of cancer development, among other important clues.



20. The average age of our faculty and staff is 41. On average, our faculty and staff spend seven years working here, although three employees share the distinction of having put in a whopping 38 years of service.



21. People who work here aren’t just devoted to a life of science—we’re accomplished musicians, artists, gardeners, cooks and athletes as well. In fact, the Center’s ultimate Frisbee team rolled over local foes Amazon, Microsoft and University of Washington to win the corporate league title in 2008. One of our most noted scientists even regularly rows—that’s right, in a kayak—nine miles round trip to work.



22. Over the years, doctors in our bone-marrow transplantation program have performed more of these transplants than anywhere else in the world, with patients coming from every continent—OK, except for Antarctica. To continue on that international theme, our faculty and staff represent more than 50 countries.



23. We’re home to a MacArthur genius, basic scientist Dr. Mark Roth, who pioneered the use of hydrogen sulfide to put mammals into a state of reversible metabolic hibernation. This achievement one day could be used to “buy time” for critically ill trauma patients.



24. The Hutchinson Center has won more than 35 awards for energy conservation and environmental leadership; our employees embrace a philosophy of conservation and sustainability.



25. Last year, we launched an awareness campaign called End Colon Cancer Now, with the goal of spreading the word that colon cancer is both preventable and treatable if detected early. We just wrapped up our first-ever online video contest to promote this message and encourage you to check out all the imaginative entries we received: http://www.endcoloncancernow.org/video/index.html
    
    

Want to learn even more about us and our work?

Visit our Web site: http://www.fhcrc.org
Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/hutchinsonctr
Watch our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/HutchinsonCenter1
Sign up for our e-newsletter: http://getinvolved.fhcrc.org/enews