Hotel executive plans cancer center

Friday, April 5, 2002 | 9:36 a.m.

Cancer deaths

Nevada ranks 12th in the nation in the rate of cancer-related deaths. Nevada le' ads the country in both diagnosis and mortality in smoking-related cancers. Exp' erts estimate that 9,500 new cases of cancer are diagnosed in Nevada each year ' along with 4,000 cancer-related deaths.

The American Cancer Society estimates that each year in Nevada:

Jim Murren, president and chief financial officer of MGM MIRAGE, said he hopes to have the newly named Nevada Cancer Institute operating within three years. The ultimate goals of the center will be to serve Nevada residents who might otherwise have to leave the state for treatment, and to conduct ground-breaking research, said Murren, whose father died of cancer at age 57.

Murren was expected to unveil more details of his proposal at a news conference today at the Bellagio. Murren's brother, Dr. John Murren, a research oncologist at Yale University Cancer Center, will be one of the featured speakers, along with chief executives from cancer centers in New Jersey and Florida.

Stephen McFarlane, acting dean of the medical school, and UNLV President Carol Harter are also expected to attend.

Dr. John Ellerton, chief of staff of University Medical Center and a principal investigator at the Southern Nevada Cancer Research Foundation, said Thursday he was looking forward to hearing Murren's presentation. A partnership with the medical school could be a sensible way of combining resources, Ellerton said.

"It sounds like (Murren) is talking to the doctors and researchers who are already here doing superb work and gathering their input," Ellerton said.

The Nevada Cancer Institute hopes to win recognition from the National Institutes of Health by 2010, which would make the facility eligible for federal funds, Murren said. Murren has declined to say how much he will actually invest in the project.

Heather Murren, Jim Murren's wife and co-director of the project's executive committee, said Thursday the first step will be for consultants to study what treatment and research programs already exist in the region and where there are deficiencies. The committee will also call on the expertise of some of the nation's top oncologists who have built cancer centers in their own communities, she said.

"They know what the road map to building a world-class cancer center looks like," she said. "We already know there's a need in the Las Vegas Valley, we just have to figure out the best route to making it happen."