Our Network
Networking expertise in and beyond Hessen
The UCT Frankfurt-Marburg sustains an excellent professional health care and research network in the region of Hessen and in Germany. The primary goals of this network are
- to pool and exchange expertise drawn from cancer research,
- to collaboratively break new ground in prevention, diagnostics and therapy, and
- to improve patient access to care throughout the region.
The list below presents only a selection of the most important partners the UCT Frankfurt-Marburg collaborates closely with.
The CCC Network aggregates all German Cancer Aid Oncology Centers of Excellence in an effort to help all cancer patients receive individualized treatment based on the latest scientific research. Further, the CCC Network serves to uphold high standards in patient care by facilitating knowledge exchange between the Centers.
With the enactment of the revised Hessian Oncology Directive (HOK) of 2010 by the Hessian Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration, the legal framework for improving close-to-home medical care for cancer patients was established on the basis of the National Cancer Plan of the Federal Ministry of Health. The Hessian Oncology Directive sets the following goals:
- Region-wide high-quality care for people suffering from cancer
- Alignment of care according to individual cancer patient needs
- Building regional and trans-regional collaborative networks
- Appropriate follow-up care after treatment completion
From the beginning, all UCT Frankfurt-Marburg sites have actively participated in the initiative as leading partners and have been committed to providing cancer care within established organizational structures in Hessen.
The UCT Frankfurt-Marburg actively contributes to the work of the Hessian Cancer Society (Hessische Krebsgesellschaft e.V.) in specific topic areas. The Hessian Cancer Society is a non-profit organization, which aims to support and connect all cancer organizations, patients and their families in the state of Hessen. It is committed to deepening understanding of cancer diseases and supporting scientific cancer research. The Society also takes on an advisory role in legislation when it comes to cancer prevention and cancer control. The Hessian Cancer Society is also dedicated to educating the public on cancer-related matters, treatment options, follow-up care and support services.
The Hessian Cancer Registry collects and evaluates regional data on cancer diseases and treatments in Hessen and makes this data available for quality assurance and research. The Hessian Cancer Registry Act stipulates exactly how this data is collected and processed. All UCT Frankfurt-Marburg sites document and forward tumor information to the Hessian Cancer Registry accordingly.
In 2017, the German Biobank Alliance (GBA) united 11 German university hospital biobanks (including Frankfurt) and two IT development centers active under the German Biobank Node (GBN). In 2019, seven more biobank locations (including Marburg) joined the GBA and in 2020, two more were added. The principal goal of GBA and its partners is to establish common quality standards and to make their biosamples available for medical research throughout Europe. The GBN and its alliance’s partners have been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) since 2017.
MIRACUM unites ten university hospitals (including Frankfurt and Marburg), two universities and a partner out of the industrial sector across seven German states in one of four consortia of the Medical Informatics Initiative (MI-I). The goal is to make clinical data, diagnostic imaging data and data from molecular/genomic examination available for innovative research projects, both on-site and across all participating sites, via modular, scalable and federated data integration centers. The set-up and connection phases of the MIRACUM project have been funded by the BMBF since January 2018.