PRINCETON, W.Va. — The effort by WVU Medicine to gain a National Cancer Institute Designation is now $50 million closer to the goal.
A previously promised state allocation toward the effort came in a Thursday afternoon ceremony at WVU Medicine Princeton Community Hospital for the WVU Cancer Institute.
Gov. Jim Justice made the presentation with WVU President Gordon Gee, WVU Medicine President and CEO Albert Wright and others on hand.
Wright said a National Cancer Institute Designation is the highest federal rating a cancer center can earn, there are 71 such institutes in 36 states and none to date in West Virginia.
“I count today in my top five most transformational days,” Wright said. “Like when we opened WVU Children’s Hospital and when we took our first COVID patients and saved lives on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), this is a pretty special day for us.”
The funding will be used to develop research programs and hire faculty and facilities that will work to create innovative approaches to cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment statewide over the next five to seven years.
“What are some of the strategies we can do to improve screening and decrease cancer rates in the state?” Wright said. “This will really rev up the economic research engine at the university and across the state.”
We took a huge step forward in our state’s fight against cancer. Today, I delivered a $50 million check on behalf of the state to @WVUCancer in its pursuit of earning an official National Cancer Institute Designation, which would be a first for West Virginia. pic.twitter.com/qRmnd5nplS
— Governor Jim Justice (@WVGovernor) June 15, 2023
Wright said the funds will become available at the end of July and the buildout of the programs will begin immediately.
“We’ll instantly start to put infrastructure into some of our sites across the state where we’ll employ nurses and clinical trial specialists that will be taking tissue samples from new cancer patients,” Wright said.
Most states have a single cancer institute serving the population, but due to the rural nature of the state, Wright said they’ll decentralize all services and create a statewide network. Those services will include clinical trials, which are vital to cancer research and treatment.
“We’ll have clinical trials that sometimes are only available in Morgantown, we’ll be able to have those clinical trials at cancer institute sites across the state, from Wheeling to Princeton and Parkersburg to Martinsburg,” Wright said.
Dr. Hannah Hazard-Jenkins, Director of the WVU Cancer Institute, was born in Morgantown and has lived in Charleston and Martinsburg. She is the Physician Leader for WVU Medicine in Morgantown currently and is a fellowship-trained breast surgeon.
The funding comes from House Bill 2024, passed in the most recent state legislature. Wright praised the efforts of state Senate Majority Leader Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha, to get the legislation passed. Takubo is also a pulmonologist who has watched the state deal with cancer and wanted to set a new standard for outcomes and quality of life.
“He was a bit of a pied piper, building a coalition with his legislative colleagues and the governor to say, “We’ve got an opportunity to change the trajectory of the state,” Wright said.