One of two NCI-designated cancer centers in Illinois, Lurie Cancer Center's physicians and scientists hold faculty appointments within the Feinberg School of Medicine, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and other academic units across Northwestern University.

[6] Northwestern's Cancer Center, founded in 1974, was renamed in 1991, in recognition of a gift from Ann & Robert H.

[10] In 2009, the William Wirtz family (owners of the Chicago Blackhawks) donated $19.5 million to Northwestern Memorial Hospital to support cancer research and clinical advancements within the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

[14] Lurie Cancer Center is geographically located inside many of the buildings on Northwestern University's Chicago campus.

[15] Collaborative research opportunities on Northwestern's Chicago and Evanston campuses enable Lurie Cancer Center investigators to integrate the spectrum of basic, clinical and population-based research, and explore new ways to bridge these scientific areas.