Markey Cancer Center awarded National Cancer Institute status

Staff report |@KyKernel

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UK HealthCare announced Thursday that the Markey Cancer Center has received National Cancer Institute status.

The hospital is the first treatment center in Kentucky to earn NCI designation and joins 67 other cancer treatment centers in the US as NCI facilities.

“This is a historic day for the University of Kentucky,” UK president Eli Capilouto said in a UK press release.

In becoming an NCI facility, UK HealthCare will be able to apply for federal funding for research projects that is limited to NCI recognized institutions.

UK will also be able to offer patients new drugs, treatment options and clinical trials that are limited to NCI hospitals.

“This is why we are here; beginning today, with the National Cancer Institute’s Markey Cancer Center, we will no longer indulge the scourge of cancer in Kentucky,” Capilouto said.

The additional federal funding resulting from becoming an NCI center will allow UK to expand its cancer awareness efforts with the local community and to work with other NCI facilities to enhance research projects.