Stephenson Cancer Center recertified as designated National Cancer Institute center

Congressional, state and university leaders gathered Friday to celebrate a recertification of OU Health's Stephenson Cancer Center as a National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Center.

Stephenson's recertification "absolutely is cause for celebration," University of Oklahoma President Joseph Harroz Jr. told hundreds of guests who attended.

At the cancer center, research-based care enables more Oklahomans diagnosed with the deadly disease to survive and thrive. Odds of surviving a first year after being diagnosed with cancer increase by 25% for patients who are cared for at a certified center, Harroz said.

Plus, access to top-level clinical trials not only improves outcomes for today's patients, but for those who can expect to be diagnosed with the disease in coming years.

"It is state-of-the-art care not just for you, but care that takes you on a journey that can help eliminate this disease one day. What takes place in here every day is sacred — it is absolutely extraordinary," he said.

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Stephenson Cancer Center offerings

OU Health's Stephenson Cancer Center:

• Conducts scientific, clinical, translational and population-based health research and currently participates in about 300 active clinical trials helping to find new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat numerous stages and types of cancer.

• Helps obtain federal approval of drugs to fight cancer through those clinical trials. Trials involving 11 such drugs received approval within the past year. One of the drugs being tested now, called OK-1, is the first developed and created entirely in Oklahoma — a first for OU Health and the state.

• Hosts Oklahoma's only CAR-T program, where immune cells called T cells are genetically altered to enable them to locate and destroy cancer cells more effectively, a bone marrow transplant program and the Varian Edge Linear Accelerator for precise radiation therapy.

Certification as a National Cancer Institute (NCI) cancer center only happens for rigorously reviewed institutions demonstrating innovative and significant research to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer and successfully serving people who live within their reach.

Only 2% of cancer centers across the U.S. achieve a NCI designation, which must be renewed every five years, and nearly all of those are part of academic health care systems like OU Health, officials said.

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Stephenson, which opened in 2011, received its initial NCI designation in 2018. Over the past decade, more than 100 highly skilled clinicians and researchers have joined its staff, while OU has boosted associated research funding to $65 million annually.

Stephenson Cancer Center in Oklahoma City is the only NCI-designated cancer center in Oklahoma and one of only 71 such centers nationwide, officials said.

More needs to be done, Harroz says

Amid Friday's celebration, Harroz and other speakers emphasized they still have more to do before they can complete their mission to bring institutional and research-based cancer treatment options to people across Oklahoma.

One out of every two men and one out of every three women who live in Oklahoma can expect to be diagnosed with cancer during the lives, with 35% of those receiving that news being told there no cure exists for their illness, he said.

"We can try to hide from it. But the reality is, it will find us," Harroz said. "We have to address it, squarely and directly."

Next steps for the cancer center include making the services it provides available outside the Oklahoma City area so it can be certified as a comprehensive center for people across the state, Harroz said.

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Stephenson already has opened a facility at the Norman Regional Hospital, broadening its impact to caring for one out of five Oklahomans diagnosed with cancer.

"That's an amazing mark after 22 years of work ... but is that good enough? It is not, because there are so many and the state who don't have access because they can't come here," Harroz said.

It will take the support of Oklahoma's congressional, legislative, tribal and local elected and appointed educational and health-related leaders to broaden the cancer center's reach further, he said.

"We are going to bring Stephenson across the state so no Oklahoman has to compromise on the quality of health care they receive because of their geography," Harroz said.

Others event speakers included U.S. Reps. Tom Cole, R-Moore, and Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma City; Dr. Richard P. Lofgren, president and CEO of OU Health; Dr. Robert Mannel, the cancer center's director; and Julie Bisbee, executive director of the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.

University Hospital Authority and Trust executives, board members and University of Oklahoma regents also attended Friday's event.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Stephenson Cancer Center at OU recertified as designated cancer center