Seattle’s Fred Hutch marks 50 years of groundbreaking cancer research Gabriel Spitzer September 05, 2025 / 1:27 pm

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center is celebrating a big birthday Friday. The center opened its doors 50 years ago, on Sept. 5, 1975. Since then it has evolved from a scrappy lab doing what some considered risky science into one of the top cancer centers in the world.

Some of the earliest work at what would become Fred Hutch took place underground in West Seattle, down three flights of fluorescent-lit stairs, to an old World War II era naval communications bunker.

“There was a treatment room and there was a separate room with total body irradiation sources. The rest of it was abandoned radio equipment,” said Dr. Rainer Storb , a member of that first tiny team.

They

See Full Page