Reeves approves $100M for new UMMC cancer center
By Gwen Dilworth | Originally published by Mississippi Today
Gov. Tate Reeves on Monday signed legislation appropriating $100 million to build a new cancer center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, fulfilling the hospital’s sizable funding request to lawmakers this session.
The medical center plans to break ground on the new center later this year.
“This effort is more than constructing a building,” Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs, said in a statement to Mississippi Today. “It is about improving cancer outcomes in a state with the highest cancer mortality in the nation, expanding access to lifesaving therapies and accelerating discoveries that will benefit patients across our state for generations to come.”
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Mississippi, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mississippi’s cancer death rate is 23% higher than the national average. The disease disproportionately affects Black Mississippians, who have a 13% higher cancer mortality rate than white residents.
Officials have repeatedly said the new cancer center is essential for UMMC, the state’s safety net hospital and only academic medical center, to secure a national designation that could improve outcomes for cancer patients in Mississippi.
The center’s estimated cost is $250 million.
On March 30, officials announced the medical center’s fundraising campaign had raised $100 million of its $125 million goal and was entering the “public phase” of its campaign, inviting individuals, families, employees and communities to donate.
The center has received several large donations that propelled it past the fundraising benchmark this year, including $5 million from C Spire, $10 million from the Bower Foundation and $10 million from the Gertrude C. Ford Foundation. The medical center has also received $8.5 million in federal funding for site preparation, Woodward said.
In 2024, the state Legislature increased its annual appropriation for the cancer center to $9 million — a nearly $5 million increase — to support research infrastructure, clinical trials and recruiting researchers. Lawmakers maintained the higher funding level this year.
“The need for a higher level of cancer care in Mississippi is urgent and undeniable,” Dr. Rod Rocconi, the director of UMMC’s cancer center, said in a press release.
The five-story cancer center building will be located on State Street across from the medical center and “bring together education, research and treatment under one roof,” according to the project’s fundraising website. The building will be adjacent to the American Cancer Center’s Jackson Hope Lodge, which provides a free place to stay to cancer patients and their families.
The new building is critical to the UMMC Cancer Center and Research Institute’s application for designation by the National Cancer Institute, a federal agency run by the National Institutes of Health, Woodward said. The designation indicates a cancer center meets rigorous research and science-based quality standards. It also provides training for the next generation of cancer care professionals and performs community outreach.
There are 73 NCI-designated centers nationwide, but none in Mississippi, Louisiana or Arkansas. Cancer patients in Mississippi seeking care at a designated center must travel to Alabama, Tennessee or Texas.
Achieving the designation will be a “long, heavy lift” that could take up to a decade, Rocconi said during a previous interview with Mississippi Today. It will require the center to recruit faculty, expand its research capacity and demonstrate strong programming in community outreach and prevention.
Designated centers receive a support grant from the agency and have access to early clinical trials. Studies have shown that patients treated at NCI-designated centers have lower mortality rates than people treated at non-designated cancer centers.
Only four counties in Mississippi fall below the national average of 145 cancer deaths per 100,000 people, according to data from the National Cancer Institute. Some counties, including Humphreys, Tunica and Issaquena — all located in the Mississippi Delta — have death rates nearly twice as high as the national average.
UMMC is the only institution in Mississippi capable of achieving NCI designation because a successful application requires a high level of research horsepower, Woodward told the Senate Appropriations Committee in January.
“It’s either us, or it doesn’t happen,” she said.
Disclaimer: Mississippi Today is supported with funding from The Bower Foundation.
This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Source: Original Article
