In 1978, The Karmanos Cancer Institute (KCI), a not-for-profit, NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center was founded in metropolitan Detroit. The original designation as an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center was obtained under the name “Meyer L. Prentis Comprehensive Cancer Center of Metropolitan Detroit.”

The institute was founded in 1943 under the name Detroit Institute for Cancer Research. KCI was formed in 1995 through a strategic partnership of the Meyer L. Prentis Comprehensive Cancer Center of Metropolitan Detroit, the Wayne State University Cancer Institute, the Michigan Cancer Foundation (MCF), and the clinical cancer programs of the Detroit Medical Center. KCI was named after Barbara Ann Karmanos, the late wife of Peter Karmanos, Jr., a local philanthropist.