News Release

New UCSF Clinical Cancer Facility Breaks Ground

Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of California - San Francisco

A long-awaited clinical cancer center building located at UCSF/Mount Zion Medical Center will break ground on July 7. This new facility will help to accommodate patient growth as well as further the collaboration of the cancer research and clinical environments at UC San Francisco, thus advancing the translation of laboratory discoveries into cancer treatments.

The five-story, 88,000 square foot building will be at the corner of Sutter and Divisadero streets in San Francisco and will house the clinical cancer programs of UCSF Stanford Health Care. Included in the building will be a state-of-the-art radiation therapy center; a patient-oriented breast care center that will include diagnostic and cancer risk evaluation services; and integrated programs for melanoma, prostate, lung, gynecological cancers and others. The facility will also have an infusion center for chemotherapy, as well as doctors' offices and will offer overhead walkway access to the UCSF/Mount Zion Medical Center, a 439-bed facility.

"This new building will enable us to deliver comprehensive care and cutting edge treatments that are unique in the Bay Area by bringing together the scientific community with clinicians," said Bruce Schroffel, chief operating officer of the UCSF Medical Center.

The building is scheduled for completion in 1999 and has a total project cost of $42.5 million, including $10 million to be obtained through private fundraising. Bond financing for the new facility is part of a $338.4 million capital construction and debt restructuring bond package for UCSF Stanford Health Care.

The new facility will function as a clinical complement to the cancer research building that opened its doors at UCSF/Mount Zion in 1997. The synergy and collaboration of this arrangement is a hallmark of UCSF's cancer programs. While basic scientists explore cancer's most fundamental causes, clinical researchers are exploring ways this knowledge can be applied, providing patients with access to the latest experimental protocols.

"UCSF has a strong combination of basic scientists and clinical scientists working together, which is quite unique compared to other centers in the country," said Frank McCormick, PhD, FRS, director of the UCSF Cancer Center and Cancer Research Institute. "The new building will help to develop a structure that encourages dialogue between lab and clinical scientists and therefore encourages translation of lab research into new therapies."

In addition to allowing for the expansion of new and existing programs, the clinical cancer building will also accommodate the UCSF Cancer Center's remarkable increase in patient volume. During the last year, it is estimated that the oncology programs located at UCSF/Mount Zion Medical Center received 30,127 patient visits. By the year 2000, the clinical programs are expected to a have a minimum of 36,151 patients.

"This groundbreaking marks an important milestone toward achieving UCSF Stanford Health Care's goal of being the first in Northern Califoria to gain National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation for a cancer center," said Peter Van Etten president and CEO of UCSF Stanford Health Care. "Our overall cancer services will also be enhanced by a new Stanford Hospital and Clinics ambulatory care center that is currently in the planning phase."

One of the goals of the UCSF Cancer Center is to become the first National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer center in Northern California. UCSF is submitting its grant application this October; such a designation will bring the center additional resources to fund all aspects of translational research. Already the UCSF Cancer Center receives over $25 million in NCI grants. In fiscal year 1997, UCSF ranked sixth among all US institutions in research support from the NCI.

"This new building will allow us to offer multidisciplinary care as well as increase patients' access to new and novel therapies that are beneficial for the palliation and cure of cancer," said Alan Glassberg, MD, associate director for clinical care of the UCSF Cancer Center.

The UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center, located in the UCSF clinical cancer building at UCSF/Mount Zion, has experienced the greatest growth of all the oncology programs over the past three years. To meet patient demands, the center will occupy a full floor in the new outpatient building that will have a "home-like," rather than typical doctor's office, atmosphere.

"In the last four years our patient volume has more than tripled," said Laura Esserman, MD, MBA, director of the UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center. "We are looking forward to the new building where our program will have enough room to support our growth. Currently we have six exam rooms, in the new building we will have 14, which will be shared with the Cancer Risk program." She added that two new full-time breast cancer surgeons will join the Breast Care Center this fall. In addition, the UCSF urological oncology program, which is growing at a similar rate as the breast program, has recruited four additional urologists to the department.

UCSF has been a progressive force in cancer science for the past 50 years and continues to build upon its long history of excellence in cancer research. In the mid-1970's, J. Michael Bishop, MD, who will assume his role as UCSF's chancellor on July 1, 1998, and Harold Varmus, MD, discovered the cancer-causing genes called oncogenes. In 1989, they received a Nobel Prize for their work. Marc Shuman, MD, UCSF chief of hematology/oncology, associate director of the Cancer Research Institute, who started his career at UCSF in 1976, marvels at the evolution of cancer research and treatment he has witnessed at UCSF during the last two decades.

"When I first came to UCSF, there was one full-time oncologist! There are at least ten now working for the UCSF Cancer Center," Shuman said. "In addition, most scientists working in basic research were not interested in cancer as a disease and gene therapy was inconceivable in 1976. Over the last five years this has changed dramatically."

Currently at the UCSF Cancer Center, studies of novel cancer treatments, such as gene therapy, are ongoing; world famous bench scientists extensively research the normal cellular processes and replication and the underlying molecular and genetic causes of cancer when these processes go awry; and 275 faculty members are dedicated to treating and researching cancer.

A long-awaited clinical cancer center building located at UCSF/Mount Zion Medical Center will break ground on July 7. This new facility will help to accommodate patient growth as well as further the collaboration of the cancer research and clinical environments at UC San Francisco, thus advancing the translation of laboratory discoveries into cancer treatments.

The five-story, 88,000 square foot building will be at the corner of Sutter and Divisadero streets in San Francisco and will house the clinical cancer programs of UCSF Stanford Health Care. Included in the building will be a state-of-the-art radiation therapy center; a patient-oriented breast care center that will include diagnostic and cancer risk evaluation services; and integrated programs for melanoma, prostate, lung, gynecological cancers and others. The facility will also have an infusion center for chemotherapy, as well as doctors' offices and will offer overhead walkway access to the UCSF/Mount Zion Medical Center, a 439-bed facility.

"This new building will enable us to deliver comprehensive care and cutting edge treatments that are unique in the Bay Area by bringing together the scientific community with clinicians," said Bruce Schroffel, chief operating officer of the UCSF Medical Center.

The building is scheduled for completion in 1999 and has a total project cost of $42.5 million, including $10 million to be obtained through private fundraising. Bond financing for the new facility is part of a $338.4 million capital construction and debt restructuring bond package for UCSF Stanford Health Care.

The new facility will function as a clinical complement to the cancer research building that opened its doors at UCSF/Mount Zion in 1997. The synergy and collaboration of this arrangement is a hallmark of UCSF's cancer programs. While basic scientists explore cancer's most fundamental causes, clinical researchers are exploring ways this knowledge can be applied, providing patients with access to the latest experimental protocols.

"UCSF has a strong combination of basic scientists and clinical scientists working together, which is quite unique compared to other centers in the country," said Frank McCormick, PhD, FRS, director of the UCSF Cancer Center and Cancer Research Institute. "The new building will help to develop a structure that encourages dialogue between lab and clinical scientists and therefore encourages translation of lab research into new therapies."

In addition to allowing for the expansion of new and existing programs, the clinical cancer building will also accommodate the UCSF Cancer Center's remarkable increase in patient volume. During the last year, it is estimated that the oncology programs located at UCSF/Mount Zion Medical Center received 30,127 patient visits. By the year 2000, the clinical programs are expected to a have a minimum of 36,151 patients.

"This groundbreaking marks an important milestone toward achieving UCSF Stanford Health Care's goal of being the first in Northern Califoria to gain National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation for a cancer center," said Peter Van Etten president and CEO of UCSF Stanford Health Care. "Our overall cancer services will also be enhanced by a new Stanford Hospital and Clinics ambulatory care center that is currently in the planning phase."

One of the goals of the UCSF Cancer Center is to become the first National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer center in Northern California. UCSF is submitting its grant application this October; such a designation will bring the center additional resources to fund all aspects of translational research. Already the UCSF Cancer Center receives over $25 million in NCI grants. In fiscal year 1997, UCSF ranked sixth among all US institutions in research support from the NCI.

"This new building will allow us to offer multidisciplinary care as well as increase patients' access to new and novel therapies that are beneficial for the palliation and cure of cancer," said Alan Glassberg, MD, associate director for clinical care of the UCSF Cancer Center.

The UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center, located in the UCSF clinical cancer building at UCSF/Mount Zion, has experienced the greatest growth of all the oncology programs over the past three years. To meet patient demands, the center will occupy a full floor in the new outpatient building that will have a "home-like," rather than typical doctor's office, atmosphere.

"In the last four years our patient volume has more than tripled," said Laura Esserman, MD, MBA, director of the UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center. "We are looking forward to the new building where our program will have enough room to support our growth. Currently we have six exam rooms, in the new building we will have 14, which will be shared with the Cancer Risk program." She added that two new full-time breast cancer surgeons will join the Breast Care Center this fall. In addition, the UCSF urological oncology program, which is growing at a similar rate as the breast program, has recruited four additional urologists to the department.

UCSF has been a progressive force in cancer science for the past 50 years and continues to build upon its long history of excellence in cancer research. In the mid-1970's, J. Michael Bishop, MD, who will assume his role as UCSF's chancellor on July 1, 1998, and Harold Varmus, MD, discovered the cancer-causing genes called oncogenes. In 1989, they received a Nobel Prize for their work. Marc Shuman, MD, UCSF chief of hematology/oncology, associate director of the Cancer Research Institute, who started his career at UCSF in 1976, marvels at the evolution of cancer research and treatment he has witnessed at UCSF during the last two decades.

"When I first came to UCSF, there was one full-time oncologist! There are at least ten now working for the UCSF Cancer Center," Shuman said. "In addition, most scientists working in basic research were not interested in cancer as a disease and gene therapy was inconceivable in 1976. Over the last five years this has changed dramatically."

Currently at the UCSF Cancer Center, studies of novel cancer treatments, such as gene therapy, are ongoing; world famous bench scientists extensively research the normal cellular processes and replication and the underlying molecular and genetic causes of cancer when these processes go awry; and 275 faculty members are dedicated to treating and researching cancer.

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