The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) was formed in 1985, and over the twenty-three years since then has amassed a cadre of more than 400 basic and clinical investigators with broad basic and clinical expertise that relates to the ECOG in relation to many of its disease and modality committees. The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) is the major extramural focus of multi-modal clinical investigations in adult solid tumors of the UPCI. UPCI is based in the hospitals of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), a health system consisting of UPMC Presbyterian (PUH), UPMC Montefiore (MUH), the Eye and Ear Hospital and Institute, UPMC Shadyside Hospital, Western Psychiatric Hospital and Clinic, Falk Clinic, and the Magee Women's Hospital. In 2002, The UPMC Cancer Centers were formed, including a broad array of more than 45 locations that serve as the base of operations for full-time and clinical faculty of the UPCI who are active in ECOG within Pittsburgh and across the region. These include UPMC Shadyside, UPMC Bedford Memorial, UPMC Braddock, UPMC Horizon-Greenville and Shenango Valley, UPMC Lee Regional, UPMC McKeesport, UPMC Northwest Franklin and Oil City, UPMC Passavant, Cranberry, UPMC Southside, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, UPMC St. Margaret's, UPMC Mercy, Magee Women's Hospital, Beaver Valley, Latrobe Area Hospital, Heritage Valley Health System, Westmorland Hospital, Jameson Health System, Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Memorial Medical Center, The Washington Hospital, Uniontown Hospital and Frick Hospital as well as the UPMC Rehabilitation Hospital. These facilities provide for a cachement area that extends across Western Pennsylvania from W. Virginia to Ohio and New York State. The Oakland Veterans Administration Medical Center is a consortium member of ECOG, affording access to ECOG studies for patients of the VA system. UPMC relocated inpatient UPCI clinical facilities to MUH in 1993, and to the Hillman Cancer Center - UPMC Shadyside Medical Center in 2003, with full service inpatient Medical Oncology, Surgical Oncology, and Hematology/BMT as well as a satellite Clinical Translational Science Institute (CTSI) in the outpatient Hillman Cancer Center Ambulatory Care Facility. A range of ECOG studies with laboratory components are being conducted on this CTSI, providing support for protocol therapy of patients on ECOG trials beyond what would be possible with third party payer coverage. The basic cancer research space of UPCI has been consolidated in the Hillman Cancer Center Research Pavilion that was completed in 2002, offering state-of-the-art research laboratories contiguous with the outpatient and inpatient facilities. Those that relate directly to ECOG include the Clinical Immunologic Monitoring Laboratory (IMCPL) which serves as the Core Immunological Monitoring Laboratory for ECOG, the Serum and Tissue Bank, and Flow Cytometry FACS/Hybridoma facilities. Separately located on the campus of the UPMC are Crystallography, Peptide Synthesis, and Oligonucleotide Synthesis facilities. The Clinical Research Services are now located in the Hillman Cancer Center Cooper Ambulatory Pavilion, while the Biostatistical Office is located at the Sterling Building several blocks closer to the Oakland Campus. UPCI and UPMC have developed as matrix organizations in which the traditional academic departments and divisions of Hematology/Oncology, Surgical Oncology, and Radiation Oncology are configured along disease-oriented lines to facilitate the growth and development of interdisciplinary disease-oriented and modality programs. RELEVANCE: The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) is the major extramural focus of multi-modal clinical Investigations In adult solid tumors of the UPCI. UPCI is based in the hospitals of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).