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The Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute is a center of excellence at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock, Ark. It is Arkansas' only academic cancer research center.

Organization
The idea that sparked the formation of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute took shape in the early 1970s between colleagues Kent Westbrook, M.D., and James Y. Suen, M.D. During fellowships at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston — Westbrook in surgical oncology and Suen in head and neck surgery — the doctors saw the need for patients to receive comprehensive cancer care close to home. They also realized that this was lacking in their home state of Arkansas.

Together they began to develop the cancer program at UAMS. For the next decade, the two doctors worked to establish multidisciplinary programs, with Suen focused on his specialty of head and neck surgery and Westbrook on surgical oncology. Suen has served as chairman of the UAMS Department of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery for 33 years, while Westbrook has moved from chief resident at UAMS in 1969 to distinguished professor today.

In 1984, they got the go-ahead from former UAMS chancellor the late Harry Ward, M.D., to formalize their plans for a cancer institute, then called the #REDIRECT Arkansas Cancer Research Center. Westbrook took on the role of founding director, a position he held for 14 years.

The first four floors of the Walker Tower opened in 1989, with half the space dedicated to research and half to patient care. An additional seven floors were added in 1996, and a 12-story expansion is set to open in 2010.

The same year the Cancer Institute opened its doors, another cancer pioneer was arriving in Arkansas. Bart Barlogie, M.D., Ph.D., was inspired to concentrate his career on what he calls the “orphan disease” of multiple myeloma in the early 1980s. At that time few other clinician-scientists had focused on myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells.

Barlogie’s vision for a comprehensive myeloma program began to take shape at UAMS after he arrived in 1989. It has since developed into the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, which has more than doubled the annual survival rate of myeloma patients upon diagnosis from three years to seven years and beyond.

After Westbrook stepped down as director, Barlogie assumed the role from 1998-2001. He was followed by Suen, who served as director from 2001-2007.

A national search brought the Cancer Institute’s current director, Peter D. Emanuel, M.D., to the Cancer Institute in July 2007, the same year that the institute’s name was changed to honor the late Arkansas Lt. Gov. Winthrop P. Rockefeller.

In 2005, Lt. Gov. Rockefeller was diagnosed with myeloproliferative disease, a rare blood disorder that can develop into leukemia. The disease would claim his life just one year later.

Widely recognized as an expert in leukemia and lymphoma, Emanuel previously served as acting director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His goal of strengthening the Cancer Institute’s research, outreach and clinical programs puts the organization on the path to becoming a National Cancer Institute designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The Cancer Institute has been designate the official cancer institute of Arkansas by the Arkansas Legislature.

Research
The Cancer Institute is home to more than 150 scientists who search daily for new clues into the causes, treatment and possible cures for cancer. Some researchers focus their efforts on the basic cellular level, while others work to move research findings from the lab to the clinic, which is called translational research.

In 2008, two Cancer Institute scientists received highly competitive grants from the U.S. Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program. These grants are being used to study how cancer cells are transferred from their original site in the body to other sites through the process known as metastasis.

Additional research conducted at the Cancer Institute focuses on such areas as radiation biology and normal tissue response to cancer therapy and how cells form tumors. An innovative procedure know as Axillary Reverse Mapping (ARM) to reduce or eliminate the arm swelling seen in many breast cancer patients was developed at the Cancer Institute. The Cancer Institute's most widely recognized research and treatment program is for multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood. More than 8,000 peripheral blood stem cell transplants have been performed at the UAMS Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy.

Twenty years of myeloma-specific research at UAMS has led to development of a way to conduct genetic analysis that identifies low- and high-risk types of myeloma and provides a basis for personalizing treatment. What two decades ago was considered an incurable disease with a maximum two-year survival rate, now has a median seven-year survival rate, with some myeloma patients still living full lives 20 years and counting after diagnosis.

Cancer Treatment
The Cancer Institute serves patients from every Arkansas county, every state and more than 40 countries for conditions ranging from common types of skin cancer to rare cancers such as multiple myeloma.

As new treatments are developed and patients live longer, more productive lives, the Cancer Institute's patient volume continues to grow. In 2004, the clinics had 100,000 patient visits. In 2010, that number had increased to more than 120,000 patient visits per year.

The Cancer Institute's focus is on research-driven team treatment, with surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, medical and radiation oncologists, researchers and scientists working together to design specialized treatment options for every patient.

Clinical trials are available in many areas, providing treatment options unavailable elsewhere in Arkansas.

Expansion
On July 30, 2010, the Cancer Institute dedicated its new 12-story tower.

The new tower connects seamlessly to the institute’s original Walker Tower, provides space for programs, such as the comprehensive lung cancer program, to grow along with the institute’s programs in multiple myeloma, head and neck cancer, breast cancer and other areas.

The new tower was funded in part by a $36 million matching funds program created by the Arkansas Legislature. Its many patient-friendly features include a new infusion center, where many of the institute’s patients will receive chemotherapy.

The infusion center features both private rooms and open areas, where patients and family members can visit with each other during treatment sessions. As with each floor in the new tower, natural light is prevalent. A healing garden is located on the first floor and balconies are available for patients, visitors and staff.

The second phase of the institute’s construction, scheduled for completion in summer 2011, will include the renovation of the current first floor and will offer a cafeteria, Patient Support Pavilion, gift shop, chapel and other services.

A nearly $10.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support construction of the 12-story expansion tower was announced on January 11, 2010.

The grant will fund completion of two research laboratory floors in the building. Funding for the grant comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 stimulus monies allocated to the NIH for construction grants.

Environmentally friendly features in the building include lighting that automatically adjusts to maximize the use of sunlight; solar-shaded glass; an energy recovery system that greatly reduces the energy usage associated with ventilation; and conveniently located recycling stations.