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FINE: The mission
of the neuro-oncology branch is really severalfold.
First and foremost, it's to ensure that every patient
with a brain tumor receives optimal standard of care,
and we achieve that by seeing thousands of patients each year.
Our second mission is to improve the plight of our patients
for the future, to develop new
and better therapies for this disease.
And we do that through an integrated approach
of clinical research, clinical trails testing the new
treatments as well as a big scientific effort
to understand the underpinnings of these diseases
because it's there that we believe
that ultimately we'll find the clues that will lead
to better treatments for our patients.
ENE: He has this multidisciplinary approach to trying
to tackle brain tumors, and this is unmatched anywhere else
in the country.
There are only a few places in the country
where you have bioinformaticians, staticians,
molecular biologists all working as a team towards one goal.
WOOLARD: So what that kind of cross is really why the NIH exists,
and then specifically, why the neuro-oncology branch,
I think, is so successful.
FINE: If you believe, as I do, that we need the basic understanding
to ultimately develop the better therapies for our patients,
we have to begin to pull the advances in the science
and the advances on the clinical front together.
ROYCE: The NIH and the Clinical Center is the only federally
funded research hospital in the United States.
We see patients who need second opinions.
We see patients with abnormalities on MRI scans.
And then we see patients who are appropriate for clinical trails.
This is unlike any other place in the world.
First of all, there are no charges,
no fees for the care of patients.
MACKEY: Becoming a patient here is relatively easy process.
The 1-800-new patient line can be called.
We can be contacted by patients,
family members, physicians, friends.
From that point, a practitioner will call them,
obtain a brief medical history, talk to them about what
to expect during their visit, and set them
up with an appointment that makes sense timewise in hopes
that it will be really beneficial for them
to learn more about the disease
and make treatment decisions going forward.
PATIENT: They have the best doctors here, the top in their field,
and when I'm here, I'm the only patient.
There's no one else here.
It's just me when they come into the room.
It's like the rest of the world doesn't exist.
It's all about you, the patient.
It's really wonderful.
You don't feel like you're being rushed out the door
so the next person can get in.
It's like no other place that I've ever been to.
PATIENT: You know, Dr. Fine was always able
to tell us what was on the horizon, too, so it wasn't just,
you know, what we can do for you today.
It's, you know, let's keep moving forward,
and the longer we can do that, the more things are coming up.
And he could -- and with his role here, he can tell you,
you know, things that are coming.
ROYCE: The Brain Tumor Clinic of the NIH gives patients the ability
to hope for a cure, and I don't think you'd find
that anywhere else.
[ Music ]
ENE: I think that Dr. Fine has a set up where he sees thousands
of patients a year, but he's also able, based on his lab
and the expertise in his lab, to offer his patients hope.
And for a disease like brain tumors, that's critical
because I think telling a patient
that this is all we can do, this is the standard
of care, is just not enough.
And I don't think Dr. Fine
or anybody else here settles for that.
And we think that the status quo is not enough.
We will do more.
We will fight this disease for as long as it takes.
Every second we can spend on it is progress.
FINE: There's a true belief in the mission of improving the lives
of patients with brain tumors and to make sure that patients
with a brain tumor in the future will not need
to suffer from this disease.
And just to be involved with a group of people
that so much believe that is a very special thing.
I think our patients feel that.
[ Music ]