Leaders from the University of Kansas, politicians and health officials, including U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, will gather at the University of Kansas Medical Center this afternoon to formally announce KU Cancer Center becoming a National Cancer Institute designation.
News of the designation first broke two weeks ago, when Senator Pat Roberts posted a note about it on his Facebook page.
Over the last seven years, KU has raised more than $350 million dollars in public and private funds, hired researchers, built labs and developed several new cancer drugs as part of its effort to achieve the designation.
The university submitted its 660 page application to the National Cancer Institute, or NCI, last fall. At that time, NCI had 66 designated cancer centers in its research network.
Dr. Roy Jenson, head of KU Cancer Center, has said that obtaining the NCI designation would mean a lot for the region's role in the fight against cancer, bringing KU a greater capacity to do clinical trials and discover new cancer treatments.
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