Cancer center still out for funds

A half-billion dollar cancer center, backed by the University and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, has not moved beyond the planning stages because of financial obstacles, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. Although Penn has already begun construction of a 2.2-acre parking garage on the site of the former Civic Center, its plan for the joint cancer center - to be built on the same site at 34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard - is still in the works. Sources close to discussions between the University of Pennsylvania Health System and CHOP have confirmed that the only remaining hurdle is the funding. And Beverly Ginsburg, executive director of Penn's Cancer Center, said that the Civic Center facility remains a long-term goal. "The project has gone through all levels of review and analysis by the Health System," Ginsburg said. "We're clearly committed to this." University President Judith Rodin highlighted Penn's interest in the project. "We are quite interested in reanimating our conversations about a joint cancer center on the Civic Center site with Children's Hospital," she said in an interview last Friday. "They are in the middle of their own strategic planning process, and so the plan may be delayed." Ginsburg gave details of a plan that is supposed to combine the research aspects of both Penn's and CHOP's oncology departments. "The concept is that there could be an integrated cancer initiative between Children's Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center so that in one building owned by CHOP there would be clinical activities including cancer services," she said, explaining that the center would be "linked to the [current] Cancer Center." Although the entire faculty of the oncology department at CHOP are also Penn professors, the separation of the facilities between the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and neighboring CHOP has presented some difficulties. "We will hopefully have a new department of radiation oncology at the Civic Center campus that will treat both pediatric as well as adult patients," Ginsburg said. Experts say that, should a joint center be built, it is of primary importance to keep pediatric and adult services separate. "Places where children and adults are cared for in the same facility don't benefit children," said Anna Meadows, an oncologist at Children's Hospital. "However, when research is done in a single facility, everybody wins." The current plan, Ginsburg said, includes a facility that keeps pediatric and adult patients separate. "From a patient perspective, there should be two separate entrances and towers," Ginsburg said, noting that clinical research would be carried out in a unified environment. Ginsburg, while noting that she could not guarantee a date for completion, estimated that within the next five years there would be noted progress on the initiative. "My hope would be [that] between three and five years, we would see something on the Civic Center site," Ginsburg said. Although Cynthia Atwood, a CHOP spokeswoman, denied that negotiations are underway, she acknowledged that Penn and CHOP have similar goals regarding the property. "It's definitely an area of mutual interest," Atwood said. "But there are no formal negotiations at this point." One source familiar with the project, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, estimated Penn's cost to be a "couple hundred million dollars." "It's really a question of how big and how much," the source said. Ginsburg concurred. "It's an issue of funds," she said. When both Penn and CHOP acquired the Civic Center lands from the City of Philadelphia in 1999, University officials had estimated a $450 million development on the property. According to expectations, Penn would contribute $350 million, with the other $100 million coming from CHOP. Penn's cancer center is already one of the most highly regarded centers in the country, and is designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute.