Historical Events

2500 B.C.

Earliest known description of "cancer": the "Edwin Smith" and "George Ebers" papyri which describe surgery, pharmacology, and mechanical and magical treatments

400 B.C.

Hippocrates described a breast "cancer" as "karkinoma" (known now as carcinoma) during surgical removal of a tumor

1629 A.D.

Cancer is first mentioned as a cause of death in the Bills of Mortality in England

1728

London's "General Census of Cancer" - the first known systematic collection of information on cancer is generated

1839

Implementation of death registration (what we now know as "death certification") in the United States

1901

Earliest known population-based systematic collection of data on people with leprosy in Norway (a population-based leprosy registry)

1926

First hospital registry established in Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT

1935

First state/central registry established in Connecticut

1956

American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer supported the development of hospital-based registries

1971

National Cancer Act budgeted funds to the National Cancer Institute for research, detection, and cancer treatment

1973

The Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program of NCI established the first national cancer registry

1974

The National Tumor Registrars Association (NTRA) was chartered May 14, 1974, in Dallas, Texas, which is a national organization representing registry professionals

1983

First Examination for the Certified Tumor Registrar (CTR) credential

1992

Congress established a National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR)

The Cancer Registries Amendment Act Public Law 102-515, legislation authorized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide funding to states and territories to establish or enhance cancer registries

1993

NTRA became the National Cancer Registrars Association

1995

CDC provided support to 42 states and district of Columbia for cancer registries

2021

SEER collects and publishes data from population-based cancer registries covering approximately 48% of the U.S. population

2022

Via NPCR, CDC supports central cancer registries in 46 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Pacific Island Jurisdictions, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, representing 97% of the U. S. population.

NPCR celebrated its 30th Anniversary

Collectively NCI SEER and CDC NPCR collect data for the entire U.S. population.

2023

50th Anniversary of the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program

Updated: December 11, 2023