Two years after first mentioning the prospect of building a new “health sciences research facility” on campus, University of Iowa Health Care is airing more details — including the project’s focus on cancer.
“The current cancer-associated wet lab research space is fully occupied, with no additional space to expand or recruit new faculty to the cancer research program,” according to a UIHC request going before the Iowa Board of Regents this week, seeking permission to start planning in detail construction of a new “state-of-the-art medical facility dedicated to cancer research.”
“To support the growth of cancer research and faculty recruitment, additional laboratory space needs to be created,” according to the request.
The project, if approved, would fortify the state’s largest health care system in an area affecting thousands of Iowans annually and support its Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center — which, since 2000, has been Iowa’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center.
The proposal also comes as Iowa continues to report the second-highest cancer rate and the fastest-growing rate of new cancers in the nation, making it the only state reporting a significant increase in incidence from 2015 to 2019.
Another 21,000 new invasive cancer cases are estimated among Iowans this year, according to the UI-based Iowa Cancer Registry, including 725 in Johnson County and 1,480 in Linn County. That’s up from 17,400 a decade ago in 2014.
An estimated 6,100 Iowans will die from cancer this year, down from 6,400 a decade ago — in part due to improved prevention, treatment and research.
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“The number of cancer survivors is growing in Iowa, and nationwide,” according to the most recent Cancer in Iowa report, finding 168,610 cancer survivors are living in Iowa.
Regent permission to start planning the programming, layout, design and ancillary needs — like utilities and parking — for its cancer-centered construction would “allow the university to understand the full project scope and associated costs to develop a modern interdisciplinary cancer-focused research facility.”
Location options for the project on the university’s health sciences campus — west of the Iowa River — could include its Medical Education Building along Newton Road or its nearby Westlawn building that houses UI Student Health, both of which have been identified as buildings needing to be razed.
“Both facilities have extensive deferred maintenance needs and costs,” according to the UI request. “Building a new structure would allow for the best use of an existing parcel of land.”
The scope and scale of a new cancer-research building would be akin to other UI research facilities and allow for “responsible growth in the future.”
“The building would promote research in an interdisciplinary manner with faculty from the Carver College of Medicine and multiple other health sciences colleges and programs,” according to the request. “The facility’s needs would become more defined as the university goes through formal space analysis and planning in the coming months.”
The university estimates paying for the project with donations, university and college resources and UIHC patient revenue.
Consideration of this project comes amid explosive growth across the UIHC system — just months after acquiring a new downtown campus for $28 million in the Mercy Iowa City hospital bankruptcy auction and months from opening a new $525.6 million, 469,000-square-foot hospital in North Liberty.
UIHC also is planning for its main campus an 842,000-square-foot inpatient tower expected to cost more than $1 billion; a $37 million expansion of its main campus emergency room; a $95 million vertical expansion of its existing inpatient tower; and a build out of shelled space in its 14-story Stead Family Children’s Hospital, adding 32 neonatal intensive care unit beds and supporting 23 new postpartum rooms — among many other projects.
In support of that growth and its 10-year vision for the health sciences campus, the university is building a $249 million “Health Sciences Academic Building” and a $75 million parking ramp — while also reconfiguring the road winding through the hospital campus and razing several buildings.
In a statement, UIHC Vice President for Medical Affairs Denise Jamieson stressed the need to address Iowa’s cancer rate and this project’s promise to “allow UI Health Care to remain competitive in both recruitment and retention of world-class faculty, staff, and trainees.”
“This project reflects the deep commitment of the university in supporting the needs of our state through education and research,” UI President Barbara Wilson said. “Building new labs that support our faculty, staff and trainees will move forward research that will impact the lives of Iowans.”
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“The current cancer-associated wet lab research space is fully occupied, with no additional space to expand or recruit new faculty to the cancer research program,” according to a UIHC request going before the Iowa Board of Regents this week, seeking permission to start planning in detail construction of a new “state-of-the-art medical facility dedicated to cancer research.”
“To support the growth of cancer research and faculty recruitment, additional laboratory space needs to be created,” according to the request.
The project, if approved, would fortify the state’s largest health care system in an area affecting thousands of Iowans annually and support its Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center — which, since 2000, has been Iowa’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center.
The proposal also comes as Iowa continues to report the second-highest cancer rate and the fastest-growing rate of new cancers in the nation, making it the only state reporting a significant increase in incidence from 2015 to 2019.
Another 21,000 new invasive cancer cases are estimated among Iowans this year, according to the UI-based Iowa Cancer Registry, including 725 in Johnson County and 1,480 in Linn County. That’s up from 17,400 a decade ago in 2014.
An estimated 6,100 Iowans will die from cancer this year, down from 6,400 a decade ago — in part due to improved prevention, treatment and research.
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“The number of cancer survivors is growing in Iowa, and nationwide,” according to the most recent Cancer in Iowa report, finding 168,610 cancer survivors are living in Iowa.
Regent permission to start planning the programming, layout, design and ancillary needs — like utilities and parking — for its cancer-centered construction would “allow the university to understand the full project scope and associated costs to develop a modern interdisciplinary cancer-focused research facility.”
Location options for the project on the university’s health sciences campus — west of the Iowa River — could include its Medical Education Building along Newton Road or its nearby Westlawn building that houses UI Student Health, both of which have been identified as buildings needing to be razed.
“Both facilities have extensive deferred maintenance needs and costs,” according to the UI request. “Building a new structure would allow for the best use of an existing parcel of land.”
The scope and scale of a new cancer-research building would be akin to other UI research facilities and allow for “responsible growth in the future.”
“The building would promote research in an interdisciplinary manner with faculty from the Carver College of Medicine and multiple other health sciences colleges and programs,” according to the request. “The facility’s needs would become more defined as the university goes through formal space analysis and planning in the coming months.”
The university estimates paying for the project with donations, university and college resources and UIHC patient revenue.
Consideration of this project comes amid explosive growth across the UIHC system — just months after acquiring a new downtown campus for $28 million in the Mercy Iowa City hospital bankruptcy auction and months from opening a new $525.6 million, 469,000-square-foot hospital in North Liberty.
UIHC also is planning for its main campus an 842,000-square-foot inpatient tower expected to cost more than $1 billion; a $37 million expansion of its main campus emergency room; a $95 million vertical expansion of its existing inpatient tower; and a build out of shelled space in its 14-story Stead Family Children’s Hospital, adding 32 neonatal intensive care unit beds and supporting 23 new postpartum rooms — among many other projects.
In support of that growth and its 10-year vision for the health sciences campus, the university is building a $249 million “Health Sciences Academic Building” and a $75 million parking ramp — while also reconfiguring the road winding through the hospital campus and razing several buildings.
In a statement, UIHC Vice President for Medical Affairs Denise Jamieson stressed the need to address Iowa’s cancer rate and this project’s promise to “allow UI Health Care to remain competitive in both recruitment and retention of world-class faculty, staff, and trainees.”
“This project reflects the deep commitment of the university in supporting the needs of our state through education and research,” UI President Barbara Wilson said. “Building new labs that support our faculty, staff and trainees will move forward research that will impact the lives of Iowans.”
University of Iowa looking to build new cancer research building
Two years after first mentioning the prospect of building a new “health sciences research facility” on campus, University of Iowa Health Care this week aired more details -- including the project’s focus on cancer.
www.thegazette.com
