The Children’s Tumor Foundation is excited to announce three more newly approved clinics to the NF Clinic Network (NFCN) in Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. With these clinics, the NFCN now recognizes 66 NF affiliate clinics throughout the United States.
Children’s Mercy Hospital – Kansas City, Missouri
Penn State Health – Hershey, Pennsylvania
Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU – Richmond, Virginia
Please visit https://ctf.org/doctor for details about each clinic including type of NF seen, number of patients seen, clinic areas of specialty, and whether the clinic enrolls patients in or refers to NF research.
We are excited to share that we will open our clinic network to Canada with new applications accepted in January. CTF continues to strive for expanding and improving patient access to quality NF care and is committed to these goals.
The NF Clinic Network (NFCN) was established by the Children’s Tumor Foundation (CTF) in 2007 to standardize and raise the level of neurofibromatosis (NF) clinical care nationally and integrate research into clinical care practices. The NFCN is the first nationwide network dedicated to improving clinical care and establishing best practices for treating those living with NF.
The NFCN is overseen by the CTF Clinical Care Advisory Board (CCAB) consisting of NF clinicians, patient advocates and CTF staff. New clinic applications are reviewed by the CCAB evaluating several factors including NF expertise, patient volume, multidisciplinary care, research involvement, and connections with local CTF volunteers. Once clinics are accepted into the NFCN, they may apply for CTF stipends including funding towards travel to the NF conference and funding to host a symposium or educational event. Since the inception of the NFCN in 2007, CTF has distributed over $2.5 M to clinics to support quality care and education. The CCAB, led by Scott Plotkin, MD, PhD from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, has also developed goals to continue to improve the NF care provided by the clinics through upcoming continuing education programs, mentorship opportunities, and the future development of clinical care guidelines. All of these efforts will continue to work towards CTF’s goal of improving access to quality NF care for the NF community.
