In 1883, The Meyer L. Prentis Comprehensive Cancer Center of Metropolitan Detroit now known as the Karmanos Cancer Institute, received National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designation.

In 1995, the Institute was renamed after Barbara Ann Karmanos, the late wife of Peter Karmanos Jr., former chair and CEO of Compuware Corporation, and a long time financial supporter of the Cancer Center. Barbara Ann Karmanos succumbed to breast cancer at the age of 46.