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Cancer
Mayo Clinic Invests $100 Million in Destination Medical Center in the Southeast
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Advancing its position as the premier medical destination center for health care in the Southeast, Mayo Clinic’s campus in Florida will invest $100 million in major construction projects building on its 150-year history of transforming health care and the patient experience.
This summer, Mayo Clinic will begin constructing an innovative destination medical building that will provide integrated services needed for complex cancer, as well as neurologic and neurosurgical care. Initially rising four stories, the 150,000-square-foot building has the potential for 11 more stories. More than 126,000 patients are expected to visit the first year the building opens.
MEDIA CONTACT: Kevin Punsky, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 904-953-0746, punsky.kevin@mayo.edu
“Mayo Clinic is proud to be out front leading the way to shape the future of health care,” says Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., CEO, Mayo Clinic in Florida. “With our vision to be the destination medical center of the Southeast, we are making significant investments in people, facilities and technology to meet the needs of all of our patients, especially those who come to us for help with complex medical problems.”
Features of the destination medical building include:
- Two floors devoted exclusively to hematology and oncology care
The new space more than doubles the size of the Hematology and Oncology Department and will be complemented by a 50 percent increase in staff. The number of clinical trials and Mayo’s capacity to serve patients also will increase. - A chemotherapy area
This area offers patients privacy and comfort, as well as space for family members, a dedicated nourishment area and a patient library. - One floor devoted exclusively to neurology and neurosurgery
The new building also doubles the space for the neurology and neurosurgical departments and will support the hiring of 12 new neurologists and neurosurgeons. - Patient care enhancements
Patient care enhancements include an outdoor garden and meeting space for support groups. - Education enhancements
The building includes space designed specifically for Mayo Clinic’s education efforts and the training of residents and fellows.
Another construction project on Mayo’s Florida campus that begins this year is a state-of-the-art positron emission tomography (PET) radiochemistry facility. The facility will house a radiochemistry laboratory and a cyclotron – a particle accelerator important in the production of radiopharmaceuticals. The facility will produce Mayo-developed choline C-11 used in certain PET scans. The scans are the latest advancements in imaging tests that “light up” prostate cancer wherever it is found and provide targets for therapy. Locating recurrent prostate cancer sooner may enable Mayo physicians to target the cancer more quickly, before it spreads even further allowing for more effective treatment.
“With the ability to produce choline C-11 PET scans, Mayo’s cyclotron will be unlike any other in the Southeast,” Dr. Farrugia says. “It will enhance Mayo’s clinical practice and play an important role in research.”
“Millions of dollars are spent each year in the U.S. on producing cancer therapies that don’t help – often because physicians and medical personnel can’t see where the cancer has spread,” Dr. Farrugia continues. “The cyclotron and production of this imaging technology are great examples of how Mayo Clinic is leading the way in health care to produce better patient outcomes, reduce cost and advance scientific discovery.”
Over the next five years, Mayo Clinic will add about 40 physicians and scientists and 250 allied health employees to support the new destination medical building and PET radiochemistry facility. Mayo currently has 5,351 employees and contributes more than $1.6 billion to the Florida economy.
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About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to medical research and education, and providing expert, whole-person care to everyone who needs healing. For more information, visit mayoclinic.org or newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org.
