The Paul G. Allen Research Center at Providence Swedish Cancer Institute

Paul G. Allen Research Center Opens at Providence Swedish Cancer Institute
– Collaborative, multiomics, patient-first approach to transform cancer care, treatment 

SEATTLE, Oct. 30, 2024 – Providence Swedish today announced the official opening of the Paul G. Allen Research Center at Providence Swedish Cancer Institute (PSCI). The new center takes a highly collaborative, sophisticated approach to improving the experience and outcome for every cancer patient by advancing modern oncology research to transform clinical care and treatment. 

“We are thrilled to officially open the Paul G. Allen Research Center, a focused extension of our long-standing, robust clinical trials program, to enhance resources available to our researchers and collaborators. The model convenes a broad range of problem solvers by inviting competitive proposals from physicians across our institution, stewarding the best research ideas and creating an optimal environment for them to collaborate with academic and industry partners,” said Elizabeth Wako, M.D., Swedish Health Services president and CEO. “The center provides advanced analytics for specimens and data, while bringing together a broad range of clinical, biologic and computer scientists at the forefront of their respective fields. In effect, creating a nimble, responsive environment to drive innovation, united behind a mission to improve care. Our physician researchers are the secret sauce. They know firsthand existing gaps, develop ideas and evaluate promising treatments to identify care improvement opportunities.”

The center’s research portfolio is divided among three independent, but complimentary, research pillars focused on prevention, exploration and treatment. The Initiative for Prevention and Early Detection – led by Charles Drescher, M.D. – investigates the genesis of cancer, focused on ways to prevent cancers before they start and ways to detect them as early as possible. The Initiative for Molecular and Genomic Evaluation of Cancer – led by Henry Kaplan, M.D. – uses genetic and molecular testing, combined with patients’ disease and treatment history, to examine cancer progression and how it evolves to evade therapies. Lastly, the Center for Immuno-oncology – led by Kelly Paulson, M.D., Ph.D. – focuses on developing and testing leading-edge immunotherapies to improve cancer treatment.

“By combining multiomics data through these synergistic research pillars – transcending the cancer continuum from genesis to recurrence or cure – we’ve created an opportunity to discover new approaches to prevent, detect and fight cancer,” said Douglas Kieper, director of the new First Hill Campus-based center. “This is a mission far beyond the lab benches and computer workstations. With this gift, Paul challenged us to improve the experience and outcome of every patient. That simple, aspirational charge is a natural extension of our role as a nonprofit health system, with patient care at the center of all we do.” 

Unlike traditional research models, where a lab is established for one major researcher who guides the work, Paul G. Allen Research Center is investigator agnostic, using a competitive review model to select and mentor the most promising research ideas from all Providence Swedish researchers. The center currently supports 42 studies from 16 Providence Swedish physician investigators which, collectively, involve more than 27 academic and commercial partner organizations.

“We can make a meaningful difference in people’s lives by expanding access to a broad range of clinical trials and the most contemporary treatment options,” said Providence Swedish Cancer Institute Executive Medical Director Ashwani Rajput, M.D. “Paul G. Allen Research Center’s novel resource combinations, personalized and data-backed approaches will help foster a new wave of cancer care.”

Early successes from Paul G. Allen Research Center team members include:

• Its first clinical trial opened in February 2023 to examine the role of Tarlatamab in lung cancer as part of a multicenter study. The therapy received FDA clearance in May 2024 as the first approved immunotherapeutic in its class.
• On May 7, 2024, the center was part of a first-in-man allogeneic CAR-T therapy for lupus.
• Charles Drescher, M.D., is preparing a manuscript for Nature Genetics – funded, in part, by Paul G. Allen Research Center – that supports his efforts to launch an ovarian cancer precancer atlas project with a team of national researchers.

Center history, resources

Paul G. Allen Research Center was made possible through a generous $20 million donation from the late philanthropist, Paul G. Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. It remains the largest ever donation made to Swedish Health Services. 

“Paul believed Swedish and its leadership would create lasting impact, with patients at the center, and built on years of innovation, research, and compassionate care,” said Jody Allen, Allen’s sister and executor of his estate. “As a cancer patient himself, Paul knew too well the toll that cancer takes on so many people and their families, but also the many opportunities there are to create a better future.” 

The center, which is located in the First Hill Medical Pavilion, is a translational research lab with both biospecimen (wet) and data (dry) laboratory spaces. The wet lab is staffed and equipped to quickly collect tissue for individual clinical research projects. The dry lab provides infrastructure needed to seamlessly, swiftly analyze bioinformatics output of internal and external labs, and amplify the value of these specimens and data by placing them into the context of disease and treatment history.

About Providence Swedish 

Providence Swedish has served the Puget Sound region since the first Providence hospital opened in Seattle in 1877 and the first Swedish hospital opened in 1910. The two organizations affiliated in 2012 and today comprise the largest health care delivery system in Western Washington, with 22,000 caregivers, eight hospitals and 244 clinics throughout Western Washington – from Everett to Centralia. A not-for-profit family of organizations, Providence Swedish provides more than $545 million in community benefit in the Puget Sound region each year. The health system offers a comprehensive range of services and specialty and subspecialty care in a number of clinical areas, including cancer, cardiovascular health, neurosciences, orthopedics, digestive health and women’s and children’s care. For more information, visit providence.org/swedish. 

 About the Providence Swedish Cancer Institute 

The Providence Swedish Cancer Institute has been a Seattle-area leader in innovative cancer diagnosis, treatment and recovery since 1932. It utilizes a multidisciplinary team of providers focused exclusively on cancer care, from diagnosis to treatment to survivorship. The institute’s specialists – who practice at the First Hill, Ballard, Edmonds and Issaquah campuses – have helped develop screening tests, technologies and therapies that are helping cancer patients around the world. Swedish Cancer Institute is a longtime member of SWOG Cancer Research Network, which is a major part of the cancer research infrastructure in the U.S. and around the world. It has members in 45 states and nine other countries as part of the NCI’s National Clinical Trials Network. The Commission on Cancer (CoC) is a group of organizations dedicated to improving survival and quality of life for patients with cancer by setting – and raising – standards. The CoC promotes cancer prevention, research, education, and monitoring of comprehensive quality care. Providence is designated as an integrated network cancer program by the American College of Surgeons, the overseeing organization of the CoC. For more information, visit swedish.org/cancer.

 About the Paul G. Allen Research Center at Providence Swedish Cancer Institute

Founded with a cornerstone gift from the late Paul G. Allen in 2018, this translational research center drives innovation in care and provides resources to physician researchers and their collaborators. For more information, visit paulgallenresearchcenter.org.