The new Cancer Research Center at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria is officially open for business. The $13-million dollar building is expected to attract talented cancer researchers to the city with the expectation a cure for cancer will be discovered in Peoria. Researcher Dr. Christopher Gondi explains what the new building brings to the medical community.
"I gives us more space we badly needed. And it gives us the tools we need to do our research," Gondi tells WMBD's Greg and Dan. "For example, some of the microscopes we use are $200,000 to $300,000 and we didn't have the place to put them."
Dean of the College of Medicine, Dr. Sarah Rusch, says the new Cancer Center will be an economic boom for everyone.
"They bring in all the talented researchers who work here, live within the community and bring in the grants," says Rusch. "It also allows us to recruit other physicians, some of whom will do clinical care."
Finding a cure for cancer is personal to survivors like State Representative Dave Leitch of Peoria who has had five major cancer surgeries after first diagnosed at the age of 28.
"(Former Peoria Mayor) Dick Carver spotted a mole on my shoulder while we were sailing. I wasn't going to go in but eventually I had it checked out," says Leitch. "It took forever after the biopsy and I asked the doctor what up and he said 'I think I can save your life.'"
Caterpillar was a major force behind the effort to place the Cancer Center here. Former Cat CEO Glen Barton is a cancer survivor.
"When I looked at our own employment, among our major health care expenses cancer was one of the major ones," says Barton. "So, it was a natural for (Caterpillar) to sort of team up to support this new endeavor."
The new building is a 20,000 square foot addition to the College of Medicine.
