Nevada Cancer Institute celebrates opening tonight

Michelle Swafford

Friday, Sept. 23, 2005 | 10:21 a.m.

The Nevada Cancer Institute will celebrate its grand opening tonight, signaling the beginning of new opportunities for health care, the community and the economy.

Gov. Kenny Guinn, Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald, other state and local officials and cancer institute employees are expected to be on hand for the dedication event.

The Nevada Cancer Institute broke ground in January 2004 and today formally opens in a 142,000-square-foot building at 10441 W. Twain Ave. It will provide education, prevention, screening, research and care for prostate, breast, gastrointestinal and lung cancers as well as leukemia.

Nevada ranks No. 12 in the nation for its incidence of cancer per capita and No. 4 for its mortality rate for women with cancer. The goals of the institute include lowering those rates.

The institute will also provide more health care options to patients so they do not have to leave Nevada for specialized treatments and to attract professionals that will enhance the local workforce, Nevada Cancer Institute President and Chief Executive Heather Murren said.

To date, about 160 employees have been hired, including 19 faculty members who come from top-notch research programs such as the University of Chicago and Yale University.

Many of the institute's faculty members teach at the Nevada School of Medicine and at University Medical Center on a volunteer basis, Murren said.

That's one thing that the Nevada Cancer Institute lacks: A major medical center to align itself with like other well-known centers do.

'We're finding ways to be able to strengthen their efforts and I'm hopeful we'll find a lot more over time," Murren said.

Nevada Cancer Institute researchers are involved with 30 clinical trials that are in various stages including ones for breast and lung cancers.

Work is under way with the Culinary Union to identify health risks and problems among the union's members and ways to address those medical concerns. The survey portion of that research should be completed soon, Murren said

There are about 500 Las Vegas Valley patients who are involved with those trials or are seeking care at the institute, said Clark Dumont, vice president of communications and public affairs.

The Nevada Cancer Institute's role in patients' lives goes beyond on-site care. It includes helping patients find financial resources to complete their treatments, pay their utilities and find lodging while they are undergoing care, Murren said.

When patients or visitors enter the Nevada Cancer Institute they will check in at the front desk, which is surrounded by a chandelier created and donated by acclaimed artist Dale Chihuly, a two-story waterfall wall donated by the Soffer Family Foundation and a wall commemorating the numerous individuals, foundations and companies that have donated money and services to the institute.

To one side of the lobby is a cafe and garden which share a sunflower motif and on the other side is a resource library with nonfiction and fiction books.

Adjoining the library is the Lance Armstrong Foundation Survivorship Center, which provides support programs for cancer survivors and their families.

The first floor also features a meditation room and an art and music room to provide relaxation for patients.

Upstairs there is a 24-bay chemotherapy department with reclining chairs, flat screen televisions and on demand cable and moves, which were donated by Cox Communications.

Five of the chemotherapy bays are private suites that are wired for fax machines and high-speed Internet for patients who want to work while they are treated, Dumont said. The center also has a boutique with various wigs, prosthetics and hair coverings, nine exam rooms, a radiation oncology department, laboratories and a 100-seat auditorium.

The Nevada Cancer Institute was designed with patients' needs in mind from the technology and equipment to the decorations, Murren said. While the patients and the research that will affect them are what the institute is all about, the center has had a domino-effect on the local economy and business community.

A number of biotechnology and research companies are interested in opening offices in Las Vegas to be near the institute's researchers and doctors, Murren said. Somer Hollingsworth, president and chief executive of the Nevada Development Authority, said the Nevada Cancer Institute's name and faculty reputation has already interested eight companies including one pharmaceutical company. Because those deals are not completed, he declined to say which companies are looking to open offices near the institute.

"The Nevada Cancer Institute is going to give us an opportunity in Southern Nevada that we have never had before," he said, adding that it will attract research and development and biotech companies from around the world. "We really believe that the (cancer institute) will be one of the leading cancer treatment and research centers in the country," he said.

"We think it will mean more businesses than we know what to do with." The institute also creates opportunities for investment in the local community from the National Institutes of Health, pharmaceutical companies, biotech companies and private foundations, Murren said. Investments have been steady for the institute.

To date, it had raised about $60 million, which does not include a $25 million matching grant that the Greenspun family has offered if two conditions are met: A single source donates $20 million and the institute raises at least $20 million from multiple donors. The Greenspun family owns the Las Vegas Sun.

Other donors include IGT, Harrah's Entertainment, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Bank of America, Tom Breitling, Caesars Entertainment, Chantal and Stephen Cloobeck, Jill and Frank Fertitta III, General Growth Properties, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Howard Hughes Corp., Debbie and Terry Lanni, Tim Poster, MGM Mirage, Southwest Medical Associates and many other private individuals, family foundations and corporations.

The institute's activities are expected to be self-sustaining from a financial perspective and "as a nonprofit what you hope to achieve is to break even," Murren said, adding that she would like to have an endowment to provide additional financial support in the coming years. The Nevada Cancer Institute established a satellite office in Reno and plans to open offices in Fallon and Elko within six months, Murren said.

She envisions even bigger things for the center that has already outgrown its space. The executive offices are a few miles away to allow more room for research and care. In the coming years, the institute plans to apply to become a cancer center of excellence, but it first needs a firm foundation and additional faculty and researchers, she said. The types of research and number of diseases studied are likely to be expanded in the coming years also, she said.

"We're just at the beginning but to have gained great minds in cancer and having them want to come to Nevada was a big accomplishment (and) creating a facility that was second to none in the nation is a big accomplishment," Murren said.

The institute's perception is likely to reinforce the fact that Las Vegas is more than gambling community, Murren said. "People look at us and see fun and glamour and that's great but we need to show another dimension of that," she said. "We hope to be one of the things that changes that perception."