The Nevada Cancer Institute (NVCI) recently broke ground on its flagship facility in Las Vegas. The building, located on five acres of land in Summerlin at Town Center Drive and I-215, is uniquely designed to foster scientific research and discovery, while maintaining the comfort of cancer patients. The $52 million, four-story facility will be outfitted with state-of-the-art technology for researching, diagnosing and treating cancer. It will also offer cancer education, prevention research, supportive programs and counseling. Upon completion in mid-2005, the 140,000-square-foot building will house pharmacology, genetics and molecular biology research labs, as well as outpatient clinical services.
“Our main focus will be drug development, the two components of which are lab research and clinical trials; our facility had to be designed for science while maintaining an environment of healing,” said Heather Murren, president and co-founder of NVCI. “We envision our building and programs as a fusion between the technology side and human side of science.”
NVCI’s design team ran the gamut from service industry experts, to artists and architects, to medical professionals and scientists. This unique approach resulted in a building designed for science that maintains a high level of comfort and convenience for staff and patients. In addition to being functional and beautiful, the institute will be uniquely Nevadan. The steel-framed building will have a red sandstone and glass exterior that will feature accents of native Nevadan stone. With concierge, valet, information and navigation services, as well as a café, to complement its scientific programs, visitors will quickly realize this is not your average medical facility.
“One thing we know how to do really well in Nevada is make visitors feel special and important,” said Murren. “We used our local hospitality industry as a model to provide our patients and their families with world-class service.”
Finding a cure for cancer takes more than a state-of-the-art facility. It takes scientific leaders with extraordinary vision, dedication, education and experience. NVCI has managed to recruit some of the best scientists in the country to direct its cancer research programs. The institute’s director, Nicholas J. Vogelzang, M.D., is a nationally recognized physician-researcher. He will lead the clinical trials program. Vogelzang was previously director of the University of Chicago Cancer Research Center. Vogelzang’s primary focus as a physician-researcher is in clinical trials for genitourinary malignancies and mesothelioma. He is a recognized expert in new therapies for patients with metastatic kidney cancer, including genetic therapy, new cytokine therapy and combination therapy.
Leading the Basic Research and Population Science programs is Deputy Director David C. Ward, Ph.D. Ward specializes in the development of new technologies in the area of genetic investigation. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences –the first and only active member in Nevada.
Dr. William J. Murphy, associate director of basic science, will lead the immunobiology and immunomodulation program, which seeks ways to improve immune system resistance to cancer and to turn the immune system against the cancer. Murphy specializes in bone marrow transplantation research as it relates to cancer.
Giuseppe Pizzorno, PhD., Pharm.D. serves as the associate director of translational research and is a distinguished researcher in experimental therapeutics. Once a molecule is identified as being harmful to cancer, translational research studies its toxic effects and develops meaningful clinical trials. Formerly, he served as the director of clinical pharmacology at the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center for 11 years.
With world-renowned scientific leaders, a uniquely-designed facility and distinctive research programs, NVCI will be a symbol of hope for cancer patients and their families in Nevada and beyond.