The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services has conditionally approved a Certificate of Need (CON) application by Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center to build an Outpatient Comprehensive Cancer Center. The 257,350-square-foot facility, which will consolidate all the center''s existing outpatient oncology services under one roof, will be one of the most advanced and complete cancer treatment facilities in the region.
Work on the $75 million project is scheduled to begin this summer, with a completion date of Summer 2003. The four-story facility will be located on the northwest side of the Medical Center, one block off Cloverdale Avenue on a site formerly occupied by the Allied Health Building.
"We are delighted that the state has approved this project," said Bayard Powell, M.D., professor and section head of hematology/oncology, and co-chair of the Medical Center''s Oncology Steering Committee. "We have been an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center for more than 10 years, and this new center will make our full range of services, including access to clinical trials, more easily accessible to our patients and their families."
The Radiation Oncology Department and an Outpatient Oncology Pharmacy will be located on the first floor; the second floor will house a Personal Appearance Center, the Cancer Registry, the Cancer Patient Support Program, a meditation room, a food court and
administrative offices. Medical Oncology clinic space, including a lung cancer clinic and a multidisciplinary genitourinary clinic, the Clinical Research Management program and the outpatient Clinical Laboratory will occupy the third floor. The fourth floor will house the Outpatient Radiology Department and multi-specialty and Surgical Oncology clinic space, including the Breast Care Center and a head and neck cancer clinic.
"The Outpatient Comprehensive Cancer Center will bring together aspects of the oncology program that are currently dispersed throughout the campus," said Frank Torti, M.D., director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center. "Bringing integrated, multidisciplinary care to our patients helps support our mission to provide the best care, including access to the latest clinical trials."
The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Wake Forest University is a national leader in cancer care and research. Ranked among the best treatment centers in the country, it is one of only 38 cancer centers in the nation designated by the National Cancer Institute as a Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the only one in western North Carolina.
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Contact: Jonnie Rohrer, 336-716-6972, Bob Conn or Jim Steele, 336-716-4587.