Establish a comprehensive cancer service within the teaching hospital at the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Half of the pets that live beyond 10 years of age will develop cancer.

It is estimated that in NY state, approximately 15,000 dogs and 9,000 cats will develop cancer each year. The total number of companion animals in NY with cancer at any given time is between 1-2 million. The most common forms of cancer in dogs and cats are

• breast,
• skin cancer,
• non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and
• tumors of connective tissues.

Interestingly, dogs are the only other animal known to develop spontaneous prostate cancer.

Delivery of excellent cancer management services for referring veterinarians and clients is the highest initial priority of the Cornell Comparative Cancer program. The newly constructed Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital provides exceptional facilities for the oncology service. The hospital is well equipped with diagnostic and patient support facilities. Excellent imaging facilities including CT and nuclear medicine capability are currently in place and a radiation facility is being equipped with a linear accelerator in the near future. The clinical cancer service at the College of Veterinary Medicine will be one of the most active in the hospital within a few months of operation.

The CVM will also provide the clinical research environment in which to study cancer prevention, early diagnosis and treatment strategies that are developed in collaboration with scientists across the University. The rationale for such studies is based on remarkable similarities in incidence, origin and development of cancer between companion animals and humans. Innovative studies and treatments will be developed from collaboration between basic scientists, applied scientists and clinicians.