In 1974, Yale Cancer Center received a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated comprehensive cancer center status, the only such designated center in Connecticut. Yale Cancer Center is a collaboration between nationally and internationally renowned scientists and physicians at Yale School of Medicine and Smilow Cancer Hospital.

Cancer research at Yale began decades before the center was founded, when the first use of a cancer drug, nitrogen mustard, was administered at Yale New Haven Hospital in 1942. Since then, research efforts have expanded to include two research Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grants in lung and skin cancer, and about 100 NCI-funded research projects. With the development of a CAR T-Cell Therapy Program, and a Phase I Program that offers over 40 phase I trials to patients, Yale Cancer Center has become a world leader in cancer care, research, and education, delivering transformative scientific discoveries and care innovations to patients.