University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston). MD Anderson Cancer Center was founded as part of the University of Texas System in 1941, in the midst of World War II. Its creation was funded by the charitable foundation of a Tennessee banker Monroe Dunaway Anderson. MD Anderson Cancer Center today remains dedicated to its mission of cancer research. In 2012, it launched the Cancer Moon Shots Program, inspired by the mission to put a man on the moon, to focus on preventing, detecting and treating cancer. In its 2016-17 rankings, U.S. News & World Report ranked the hospital No. 1 in cancer care in the nation.
