MD Anderson's network of hospitals and other cancer-treatment facilities, originally established by the Texas Legislature in 1941, welcomes patients from all over the world, enough that its International Center offers full-time interpreters in Arabic, Mandarin, Russian and several other languages. Even eating in the cafeteria can feel like stepping inside a model UN. MD Anderson sees more than 135,000 patients per year, a staggering number eclipsed only by the lengths the staff goes to in making sure none of them ever feel like part of the medical-industrial complex. It takes doctors, nurses, techs, administrators, researchers, social workers and dozens of other dedicated professionals working in concert to create as comfortable an environment as possible. Considering what its patients are up against, the people of MD Anderson understand that little things can make all the difference.
READERS' CHOICE: Memorial Hermann