The Heinrich-Heine University Medical Center is a large tertiary care hospital, a major medical research facility, the largest teaching hospital of the Heinrich-Heine University Medical School, and a training facility for both nursing and physiotherapy schools. In 1974, the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology was established as a separate department within the University's Center of Child Health, serving a catchment area of 3 million inhabitants in the northwest of the federal state of Northrhine-Westfalia. With approximately 85 newly diagnosed cases of malignant illness and 25 bone marrow transplantations per annum, the department is one of the larger ones in Germany. The self-understanding of this unit reaches beyond immediate care of patients, however. The department attempts to provide psychosocial support to families, patients, and caregivers. Furthermore, it takes its responsibility as a teaching and research facility quite seriously, aiming to add to our understanding of cancer with the goal of improving the outcome of childhood cancer.