Mesothelioma specialist access by state
Mesothelioma is rare, and the hospitals that treat it regularly are concentrated in a small number of cities. With on the order of 3,000 diagnoses a year spread across the entire country, most oncologists encounter very few cases — which is why where you are treated becomes one of the more consequential decisions a family makes. In our directory of 49 specialty centers and 71 specialists, 25 states have no center at all and 31 have no listed specialist.
This page exists to answer one question quickly: how far is the nearest center from where you live, and what are your options if the answer is "far"? It is not a ranking, and it carries no claims about how many cases any hospital treats.
Where the distance is greatest
Measured from the geographic center of each state to the nearest center in this directory. These are the places where treatment almost certainly means travel.
| State | Nearest center | Approx. distance |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | UCSF Medical Center — San Francisco, CA | 2,333 mi |
| Alaska | Fred Hutch Cancer Center — Seattle, WA | 1,587 mi |
| Montana | University of Colorado Cancer Center — Aurora, CO | 555 mi |
| Idaho | OHSU Knight Cancer Institute — Portland, OR | 402 mi |
| North Dakota | Masonic Cancer Center — Minneapolis, MN | 386 mi |
| Utah | University of Colorado Cancer Center — Aurora, CO | 367 mi |
| New Mexico | Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center — Phoenix, AZ | 332 mi |
| Nevada | Stanford Medicine (Stanford Cancer Institute) — Stanford, CA | 328 mi |
If there is no center near you
A long distance is not a dead end, and it does not mean you have to move. Three things are worth knowing before you make any decision about travel:
A remote second opinion usually does not require travel
Most major centers review outside cases remotely. You send imaging, pathology slides and records; their team reviews them and reports back. For mesothelioma this matters more than for common cancers, because the diagnosis itself is frequently revised on specialist review — the cell type and subtype drive the entire treatment plan. Ask your current oncologist to request a second-opinion review, or contact a center's intake line directly and ask what they need.
Travel is often for the decision, not the whole course of treatment
A common arrangement is that a specialist center sets the plan and any surgery happens there, while chemotherapy or immunotherapy is delivered locally under that plan. Ask directly: "which parts of this would I have to be there for?" The answer is frequently narrower than people assume.
Ask about the practical support before you rule it out
Centers have social workers and patient navigators whose job includes lodging, travel assistance and coordination with your local team. Several national organizations also fund patient travel. This is a normal question to ask on a first phone call, not an imposition.
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Every state
Centers and specialists listed in each state, and the nearest center if there is none.
| State | Centers | Specialists | Nearest center if none in state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 1 | 1 | In state — see centers |
| Alaska | 0 | 0 | Fred Hutch Cancer Center (WA, ~1,587 mi) |
| Arizona | 2 | 2 | In state — see centers |
| Arkansas | 0 | 0 | UT Southwestern Medical Center (TX, ~290 mi) |
| California | 5 | 5 | In state — see centers |
| Colorado | 1 | 0 | In state — see centers |
| Connecticut | 0 | 2 | Mount Sinai Health System (NY, ~86 mi) |
| Delaware | 0 | 0 | Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (MD, ~62 mi) |
| District of Columbia | 0 | 0 | Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (MD, ~35 mi) |
| Florida | 4 | 4 | In state — see centers |
| Georgia | 1 | 3 | In state — see centers |
| Hawaii | 0 | 0 | UCSF Medical Center (CA, ~2,333 mi) |
| Idaho | 0 | 0 | OHSU Knight Cancer Institute (OR, ~402 mi) |
| Illinois | 4 | 4 | In state — see centers |
| Indiana | 1 | 1 | In state — see centers |
| Iowa | 0 | 0 | Nebraska Medicine (Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center) (NE, ~138 mi) |
| Kansas | 0 | 0 | Nebraska Medicine (Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center) (NE, ~230 mi) |
| Kentucky | 0 | 0 | Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (TN, ~125 mi) |
| Louisiana | 1 | 0 | In state — see centers |
| Maine | 0 | 0 | Brigham and Women's Hospital (MA, ~232 mi) |
| Maryland | 1 | 5 | In state — see centers |
| Massachusetts | 2 | 5 | In state — see centers |
| Michigan | 2 | 2 | In state — see centers |
| Minnesota | 2 | 5 | In state — see centers |
| Mississippi | 0 | 0 | UAB O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center (AL, ~177 mi) |
| Missouri | 0 | 1 | Nebraska Medicine (Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center) (NE, ~270 mi) |
| Montana | 0 | 0 | University of Colorado Cancer Center (CO, ~555 mi) |
| Nebraska | 1 | 0 | In state — see centers |
| Nevada | 0 | 0 | Stanford Medicine (Stanford Cancer Institute) (CA, ~328 mi) |
| New Hampshire | 0 | 0 | Brigham and Women's Hospital (MA, ~98 mi) |
| New Jersey | 1 | 1 | In state — see centers |
| New Mexico | 0 | 0 | Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center (AZ, ~332 mi) |
| New York | 4 | 12 | In state — see centers |
| North Carolina | 1 | 3 | In state — see centers |
| North Dakota | 0 | 0 | Masonic Cancer Center (MN, ~386 mi) |
| Ohio | 2 | 2 | In state — see centers |
| Oklahoma | 0 | 0 | UT Southwestern Medical Center (TX, ~196 mi) |
| Oregon | 1 | 0 | In state — see centers |
| Pennsylvania | 2 | 5 | In state — see centers |
| Rhode Island | 0 | 0 | VA Boston Healthcare System (MA, ~47 mi) |
| South Carolina | 1 | 1 | In state — see centers |
| South Dakota | 0 | 0 | Nebraska Medicine (Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center) (NE, ~305 mi) |
| Tennessee | 1 | 0 | In state — see centers |
| Texas | 4 | 7 | In state — see centers |
| Utah | 0 | 0 | University of Colorado Cancer Center (CO, ~367 mi) |
| Vermont | 0 | 0 | Brigham and Women's Hospital (MA, ~146 mi) |
| Virginia | 1 | 0 | In state — see centers |
| Washington | 2 | 0 | In state — see centers |
| West Virginia | 0 | 0 | UVA Cancer Center (VA, ~120 mi) |
| Wisconsin | 1 | 0 | In state — see centers |
| Wyoming | 0 | 0 | University of Colorado Cancer Center (CO, ~267 mi) |
How this was measured, and what it does not tell you
- This is our directory, not a national census. There are hospitals treating mesothelioma that are not listed here. A state showing zero means we list no center there — not that no care exists there.
- Distance is an indicator, not a route. It is measured from the geographic center of a state to the nearest listed center. Your actual journey may be much shorter or somewhat longer.
- There are no case-volume figures on this page, deliberately. Counts of how many mesothelioma cases a hospital treats per year are not published by hospitals in any verifiable form, so we do not publish them either.
- NCI designation is verified. 36 of the 49 centers appear in the National Cancer Institute's own directory of designated cancer centers, checked link by link.
- Directory verified: 2026-08-23. Page generated: 2026-08-24.
Cite as: Mesothelioma-Lung-Cancer.org. (2026). Mesothelioma Specialist Access by State: How Far Is the Nearest Center?. Retrieved from https://mesothelioma-lung-cancer.org/data/specialist-access/
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