By Mary Hardin

Editor's note: The Indiana Cancer Pavilion, located on the IUPUI campus, was formally dedicated Oct. 4.

The Indiana Cancer Pavilion, the largest, multidisciplinary clinical facility for the treatment of cancer in the state, will open to Indiana University Medical Center (IUMC) patients later this month.

Stephen D. Williams, M.D., director of the IU Cancer Center, said the state-of-art facility will serve as a model for cancer treatment centers nationwide.

"The opening of the Indiana Cancer Pavilion, along with the forthcoming completion of the building for the IU Cancer Research Institute, will position the IU Medical Center as a leading comprehensive cancer center in the country," Williams said. The laboratory and research facility is scheduled to open next spring.

The Cancer Pavilion will feature eight interdisciplinary cancer programs located on the second and third floors. The Women's Cancer Center will be the first in Indiana to provide integrated health services to women under care for breast and reproductive organ cancers. Adjacent to the Women's Cancer Center on the second floor are special clinics for patients who need treatment for head and neck cancers, melanoma, genital and urinary cancers, lung cancers and digestive organ cancers.

The Bone Marrow Transplantation Program is located on the third floor of the Cancer Pavilion. The hematology, leukemia and lymphoma programs also are located in this area to ensure quality outpatient care designed by teams of physicians, nurses and other care providers who specialize in blood-related diseases.

Located on the lower level of the Cancer Pavilion is the Department of Radiation Oncology, which has the most advanced equipment in the nation for total body radiation and, by spring, will house a Gamma Knife radiosurgery facility.

The Gamma Knife is a highly specific, non-surgical procedure that will expand the array of treatments available to patients stricken with brain, head and neck tumors.

All of the cancer-care activities at the IU Medical Center are supported by the cancer registry, laboratory, biostatistics and clinical research offices, which have been relocated on the third floor of the Cancer Pavilion to provide information and data critical to education, research and progressive patient care.

The intent of locating faculty and staff in the departments of urology, medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and surgery under one roof in the Cancer Pavilion is to facilitate time-sensitive, multidisciplinary planning and treatment.

But the facility will be more than just a dynamic, advanced treatment center. While designed to meet the physical needs of patients, their aesthetic and emotional needs also were considered. Physicians at IUMC realize that healing involves the spirit as well as the body and so inspirational art objects have been included in the design.

Works of art by past and present cancer patients and Indiana artists will grace the walls of the Cancer Pavilion. Acquisition of those works of art will be an on-going project contingent on the generosity of individuals and corporations.

One outstanding piece to hang prominently in the atrium lobby was created by Bloomington artists and IU graduates Dawn Adams and Dale Steffey. Their work is a colored glass depiction of people catching fireflies.

A seven-foot-square, hand-stitched quilt in a willow tree pattern, designed by Carol Myers of Indianapolis, will hang in the Women's Cancer Center. Each of the 1,257 leaves of the tree will incorporate the name of a breast cancer victim.

The strengths of the Indiana Cancer Pavilion are evident not only in the expertise of its doctors and nurses and in the advanced technology housed within its walls, but also in the commitment to the project held by others. One of those is U.S. Rep. John T. Myers who succeeded in gaining $10 million in federal funding for construction of the facility.

Myers' wife, Carol Myers, spoke at the dedication. Access her remarks at the Web site listed at the beginning of this story.

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