In 1977, Dana-Farber (DF) received National Cancer Institute (NCI) Comprehensive Cancer Center designation one of the first in the nation.

In 1947, Sidney Farber, MD, founded the Children’s Cancer Research Foundation, dedicated to providing compassionate, state-of-the-art treatment to children with cancer while developing the cancer preventatives, treatments, and cures of the future. The foundation officially expanded its programs to include patients of all ages in 1969, and in 1974 became known as the Sidney Farber Cancer Center in honor of its founder.

DF/HCC (Harvard Cancer Center) is the powerful successor organization to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of the original cancer centers designated by the NCI in 1973.