AURORA - The University of Colorado Cancer Center has been added to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a not-for-profit group of 23 top cancer hospitals.

NCCN clinical practice guidelines in oncology, used as the standard of care for oncology patients, are developed through a rigorous review of the evidence integrated with expert medical judgment and recommendations by multidisciplinary panels from NCCN member institutions.

"We are honored and humbled by being elected to institutional membership by NCCN," said Dr. Dan Theodorescu, director of the CU Cancer Center, in a press statement. "NCCN has been a national leader in advancing the quality and practice of cancer medicine. We look forward to contributing our expertise and ideas while supporting NCCN's national and international initiatives in patient care and research."

CU Cancer Center, located on the Anschutz medical campus at 13001 17th Place in Aurora, is Colorado's only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. The center, founded in 1985, is a consortium of three state universities - CU-Boulder, CU-Denver and Colorado State University - as well as University of Colorado Health, a network comprised of the University of Colorado Hospital, Denver VA Medical Center and Children's Hospital in Aurora, Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, and Kaiser Permanente Colorado and National Jewish Health in Denver.

UCH, the primary adult teaching hospital, is where the majority of CU Cancer Center clinical care is delivered and clinical research is conducted, and was named the nation's top academic medical center for quality in 2011 and 2012 by the University HealthSystem Consortium. U.S. News & World Report magazine ranks the CU Cancer Center among the nation's top 50 cancer centers and named UCH the best hospital in Colorado in 2012.