The Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center (HCCC) at the University of Iowa has been the leader for cancer-related research, education and clinical care in the state of Iowa since 1980. The overall mission of the HCCC is to decrease the pain and suffering caused by cancer in Iowa, surrounding communities, and around the world through improved cancer prevention and treatment based on the three interdependent missions of research, clinical service and education. The HCCC is an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center that functions as a matrix cancer center. This allows the HCCC to benefit from the multidisciplinary and interactive research taking place across the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City, Iowa. The Cancer Center includes six formal research programs, composed of 175 members from 6 colleges and 26 departments on the University of Iowa campus. Formal programs are organized around scientific discipline, with each being translational in nature. Programs include Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy, Cell Signaling and Developmental Pharmacology, Free Radical Cancer Biology, Cancer Genetics and Computational Biology, Tumor Imaging and Cancer Epidemiology. In addition the HCCC has developing programs in Cancer Prevention, and Cancer and Aging, and a number of highly interactive disease-focused groups such as in prostate cancer and lymphoma. The HCCC supports 11 shared resources.

Multidisciplinary clinical cancer care is provided through the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, with the focus of clinical activities being The John and Mary Pappajohn Clinical Cancer Center. This facility includes over 63,500 square feet of space and supports 45,000 patient visits per year for 10,400 different patients. The newest addition to the HCCC is the Center for Image-Guided Radiation Therapy which opened in 2005. This facility specializes in the delivery of state-of-the-art image- and optic-guided stereotactic radiation.