Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center

Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center is a cancer care organization based in Baton Rouge with satellite locations in Louisiana and Mississippi.

History
In the late 1960s, community leaders headed by Dr. M.J. Rathbone, Jr. and Anna B. Lipsey saw the need for a community owned, nonprofit radiation cancer facility in the greater Baton Rouge area. With the financial support of the Baton Rouge community the Cancer Radiation and Research Foundation – now known as Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center – was established.

In 1968, the Foundation held a capital campaign capped by a donation of land from philanthropist Paul D. Perkins, whom he made in honor of his late daughter, Mary Bird. In 1971, the Mary Bird Perkins Radiation Treatment Center opened its doors in Baton Rouge. After 14 years of operation, in 1985, Mary Bird Perkins relocated to its present site on Essen Lane and installed the first linear accelerator in the state. The following year, in 1986, the name of the center was changed to Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center.

In 1988, the first satellite treatment center was opened in Hammond, followed by six more Centers in southeast Louisiana and Mississippi: Covington in 1998, Houma in 2008, Gonzales in 2009 and Natchez in 2019. In 2018, Mary Bird Perkins – Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center and Woman's Hospital opened the Breast & GYN Cancer Pavilion and partnered with Lane Regional Medical Center in Zachary. Additionally, the Cancer Center partners with LSU Health Baton Rouge North Clinic.

The main waiting room is dedicated to Anna B. Lipsey.