Construction of the new UT Health RGV Cancer and Surgery Center is set to begin Oct. 5 and be completed Nov. 25, 2024, as phase one of developing the McAllen Academic Medical Campus.
The 144,231-square-foot building will include a radiation oncology clinic, medical oncology clinic, diagnostic imaging suite, rehabilitation therapy, ambulatory surgery center and an orthopedics center, according to a UTRGV news release.
The total cost of the project is about $145 million with different sources of funding, according to Agustin Rodriguez, director of Facilities Planning and Management for the School of Medicine.
The funding sources are Tuition Revenue Bond Funds, $44,922,833; School of Medicine’s Permanent University Fund allocation, $7,493,963.78; Revenue Financing System Debt, $40 million; cash reserves, $10,306,605; Permanent University Fund Bond Proceeds, $42 million; and City of McAllen donation, $1 million.
Michael Hocker, dean of the UTRGV School of Medicine and senior vice president for UT Health Rio Grande Valley, said the donation shows the community support for the university and School of Medicine.
“We have great partnerships with all of our cities, including Edinburg, McAllen, Pharr, Harlingen and Brownsville,” Hocker said. “I think this is the beauty of being part of UTRGV and the School of Medicine. We’re here to provide and transform the health of the Rio Grande Valley, and that’s truly our vision. And, you know, through the support of the cities and the counties we’ve received support to help start the medical school, but also to advance its clinical education and research missions.”
He said the primary focus of the center is to bring specialty cancer care to the RGV.
The center will have four operating rooms, a full imaging center that will include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) scan, conference rooms, orthopedics, sports medicine, rehabilitation spaces and a cafe.
Hocker said the building will also serve as a research center.
“So we have partnered with [The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center], who is acting in an advisory role,” he said. “I think each one of us has been touched by somebody with cancer, and it’s unfortunate that a lot of patients in the Rio Grande Valley, if they have capabilities, oftentimes leave the Valley to get advanced cancer care. … As an academic enterprise we want to provide, you know, state-of-the-art cancer care in the Valley … and that’s first and foremost what we’re trying to do through this cancer center.”
Juan Gracia, a biomedical sciences sophomore, said the addition of the center in the Valley is good because there are not many specialty centers in the area.
“This really helps the Valley with cancer research and just more access to stuff that we need here,” Gracia said. “And also, well as a student, it definitely helps us pre-med majors by, you know, giving us more research opportunities and chances to volunteer and go learn one-on-one.”
Rodriguez said the center will complement the aesthetic from the Brownsville and Edinburg campuses to help the community connect back to the main campuses.
“It took us a lot of work to try to get it to where it was kind of, you know, reflecting both campuses,” he said. “The brick that we have in the building is one feature that we’ll be using as part of the aesthetic. We’re also using some arches that we have in the Brownsville campus, and a lot of the brickwork that you see on the Brownsville campus you’ll see here at this facility as well.
“The more modern features of the building, obviously, come from the Edinburg campus, and you’ll see some metal panels and some glass similar to what you see [in Edinburg].”
