In a ceremony held Aug. 5 at UNC Hospitals, Gov. Mike Easley signed into law House Bill 1264, which provides $180 million in funding for a new cancer hospital to be built by the UNC Health Care System.

Chancellor James Moeser introduced Gov. Easley to an audience of more than 200, which included several key legislative supporters such as Sens. Tony Rand, Kay Hagan and Ellie Kinnaird, along with Rep. Joe Hackney and the co-speakers of the N.C. House of Representatives, Jim Black and Richard Morgan.

The governor said the bill would "provide a great improvement in health care in this state by putting in place $180 million for a new cancer center at the University of North Carolina here in Chapel Hill."

"The center will be known as the N.C. Cancer Hospital, and the people need it. The people deserve it," Easley said, noting that the number of cancer patients in North Carolina has increased by 35 percent over the last six years and is expected to double over the next 30 years.

He said further that the new hospital would replace a 1950s-era tuberculosis sanatorium "with one of the best cancer research centers in America. That is what North Carolina is about," Easley said. "Not getting by, but being the best, and we're going to demonstrate that with this facility."

SIGNING FOR A HEALTHIER FUTURE Gov. Mike Easley (center) shares a light-hearted moment Aug. 5 during the signing of the bill to fund the new N.C. Cancer Hospital. Chancellor James Moeser (left) attended the ceremony, as did Rick Hendrick. Hendrick, who is well known in North Carolina in part through his ownership of Hendrick Motorsports, is a cancer survivor who traveled to Texas for experimental treatments that weren't available in North Carolina.

After concluding his remarks, Gov. Easley introduced cancer survivor Rick Hendrick, who is better known as the owner of an automobile dealership and a NASCAR racing team. Hendrick received treatment for his leukemia in a clinical trial in Houston. That treatment was not available to him in North Carolina.

"What's so important about what you're doing here today, it's hard when you have a loved one that's diagnosed with cancer, or you're diagnosed with cancer," Hendrick said. "But it's even tougher to leave home. It's hard on a family."

"You folks in the legislature and Gov. Easley, you ought to feel really proud today that you've done something for this state. Because you're going to help families, you're going to save lives, you're going to touch the people of North Carolina," Hendrick said.

Hendrick was followed at the microphone by William L. Roper, dean of the University's School of Medicine and chief executive officer of the UNC Health Care System.

"It's important in all of this that we see this in terms not just of buildings and concrete and billions of dollars and numbers of research grants and projects to be accomplished, but we need to see it in the faces of the patients that we care for," Roper said.

The funding allows UNC Health Care to speed up the planning that has already been under way for the new hospital. It will also serve as the clinical home for the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of only 39 such National Cancer Institute-designated centers in the United States.

The new seven-story hospital will be built in front of the existing N.C. Neurosciences Hospital, just to the east of the building it is to replace, the N.C. Clinical Cancer Center (also known as the Gravely Building). The construction project also will include a physician office building on the other side of Manning Drive, next to the Dogwood Parking Deck.

"The new N.C. Cancer Hospital will not only create the physical space to expand and enhance patient care, it will also create an even higher quality of care by integrating the latest advances in science with highly skilled physicians and other health-care providers," said Richard Goldberg, director of Oncology Services.

The existing cancer treatment facility is an aging building that has already been extensively renovated. Additional renovations would not be able to accommodate the expected increase in the number of patients or the latest advances in medical equipment and technology.

This new integrated space will:

Provide more room for a growing patient population;

Have specially designed facilities for high-technology tumor imaging, genetic analysis and novel treatments;

Incorporate support services for all patients;

Enhance clinical research and innovative care options;

Incorporate teleconferencing facilities to include community-based physicians in treatment planning for their patients, allowing most treatments to be continued in their home communities;

Pair cancer care with a prevention clinic focused on surviving patients, their families and high-risk individuals and their families;

Enhance the University's multidisciplinary clinics, where a host of experts can interact with patients at one time, speeding the decision making and permitting an informed opinion that incorporates the skills of all disciplines in one visit; and

Stimulate growth in the state's biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries by promoting the development and evaluation of leading-edge therapies in clinical trials research.

Finally, the new cancer hospital will boost the North Carolina economy by increasing the University's research funding for prevention and control and clinical research. The new facility will increase the University's capabilities to serve as a test site for novel cancer therapies and prevention studies, attracting increased funding from government agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, organizations such as the American Cancer Society and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and industry, such as pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Conservative estimates anticipate that the new hospital could generate $26 million a year in additional research funding, providing jobs for 240 new full-time employees and 25 new clinical faculty who spend about half their time conducting research.

UNC Health Care commissioned Tripp Umbach Healthcare Consulting Inc. of Pittsburgh, the nation's leading provider of economic impact analysis for academic medical centers, to conduct a study of the cancer hospital's economic impact. Last month, the consultants reported that the new North Carolina Cancer Hospital would bring about substantial new economic and social benefits to the state. The study found that cancer services at the University currently have an economic impact of $251 million. By the time the new hospital opens in 2010, this impact should grow to $405 million -- a $154 million increase.