New Brunswick – Senate President Steve Sweeney joined with doctors, researchers, nurses and public officials at the Rutgers Cancer Institute to announce a new free standing cancer pavilion. A partnership between RWJ Barnabas Health, the New Brunswick Development Corporation and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the pavilion will allow the facility to see more patients and provide them with more lifesaving care. It will also house state-of-the art research laboratories.
“The Cancer Institute is recognized as a world-class hospital that engages in research, treatment and care,” said Senator Sweeney. “The new pavilion will advance the work even further. It shows that New Jersey is in the forefront of science, medicine and research and that higher education can work effectively with hospitals and the public sector.”
The Cancer Pavilion will be a model for cancer care delivery on the East Coast, bringing together three areas of academic medicine – research, education and patient care – all under one roof. The pavilion will house outpatient treatment centers, including those for chemotherapy and radiation therapy, as well as the major diagnostic modalities, and inpatient cancer services of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
“The ability to translate scientific findings – now literally – from ‘bench to bedside’ and back to the laboratory will provide the physicians and scientists with more immediate feedback on clinical trials,” said Barry Ostrowsky, President and Chief Executive Officer, RWJBarnabas Health. “This virtual information will enable us to improve clinical assessment, further tailor patient treatments, and collect important research data in a more rapid and direct fashion.”
For more than 25 years, CINJ has served as a destination hub for unique cancer treatments including clinical trials, stem cell transplantation, proton therapy and – more recently – a new form of immunotherapy known as CAR T-cell treatment.
It is the state’s only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The estimated schedule for completion of the project spans 48 months, with site work beginning in the summer of 2020, and occupancy in the summer of 2023.