Press Release

For Immediate Release
Contact: Susan Preston
(973) 972-7265

UMDNJ Announces Plans to Construct $100 Million Cancer Center in Newark

The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) will build a $100 million cancer research and treatment center on its Newark campus, it was announced today (July 26) by UMDNJ President Dr. Stuart D. Cook at a ground breaking ceremony for the new building.

The new center, which will be affiliated with The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ), and will be called the New Jersey Medical School-University Hospital Cancer Center. Its focus is primarily on reducing cancer incidence, mortality and morbidity in minority and underserved populations. The new enterprise will occupy a seven-story 200,000 thousand square foot facility located at Bergen Street and South Orange Avenue.

Dr. Cook said, "This new project is another major step forward in the University's goal of developing CINJ as our first statewide center of excellence. Newark presents a distinctive opportunity for expansion of CINJ's research and clinical care related to minority populations. We expect that our Institute for the Elimination of Health Care Disparities will be a valuable component in this new initiative."

The Dean and Betty Gallo Prostate Cancer Center at CINJ also will be integrated into the Newark cancer center to enhance its efforts in prostate cancer screening and research programs.

Dr. William N. Hait, director of The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, said, "New Jersey Medical School has been an academic affiliate of CINJ since 1995, participating in cooperative group clinical trials and on-going professional training of physicians and nurses. The new center will increase the opportunities for collaboration with both the medical school and University Hospital, and together, I believe we can have a significant impact on reducing cancer incidence, mortality and morbidity in underserved populations."

Fifty-two percent of New Jersey's entire African-American population and 50 percent of its entire Hispanic population live in the four-county area served by the new cancer center. Although there is little difference in the incidence rates of cancer between African American and Caucasian women, African American women die at a rate 17 percent greater than Caucasian women. African American men die at a rate 40 percent greater than Caucasian men. Currently at University Hospital, more than 30 percent of cancers are diagnosed in an advanced stage, twice the rate seen at other teaching hospitals in New Jersey.

The seven-story building will contain three floors dedicated to clinical care including chemotherapy infusion and radiation oncology.

In-patient clinical care will be provided at newly renovated space at UMDNJ-University Hospital. The current level of cancer-related clinical activity occurring at the hospital is substantial, with 30,000 out-patient cancer visits expected by the end of the year.

The center will also contain four floors for basic and translational research and UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School will recruit as many as 14 new faculty with expertise in cancer research.