UT announces $2.5 billion partnership with MD Anderson to build cancer center in Austin

The University of Texas System announced Monday that it will build a specialty care hospital and a world-class cancer center in Austin through a partnership with the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, a project that could significantly boost Austinites' access to care and create thousands of jobs.

The $2.5 billion investment will expand treatment options for thousands of patients and bring new research opportunities to students and physicians, officials said during a news conference.

Officials plan to build the new hospital and cancer center on the site of the Erwin Center, the longtime home of the Longhorns' basketball teams before Moody Center opened. The university announced years ago that it would raze the arena to free up space to expand its medical school.

UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife called the project “transformative.”

Gov. Greg Abbott, who attended the news conference at the UT System’s headquarters in downtown Austin, said the project will elevate two of the state’s higher education goals.

“The state of Texas is on a mission to elevate our education in our state and also to use higher education as a way to expand access to health care,” Abbott said.

Texans travel to Houston from across the state to access the high-class cancer care at the MD Anderson Cancer Center or other area hospitals, he said.

“Rather than have Texans travel to Houston, we will now be bringing the world’s best cancer care to them right here in Central Texas,” Abbott said.

The American-Statesman first reported the cancer center proposal and partnership between UT and MD Anderson on Sunday night.

UT-Austin President Jay Hartzell also announced Monday the creation of a specialty care hospital, which will be run by the Austin-based institution.

The new hospitals will mean 4,000 to 5,000 jobs in Austin, high-level cancer care for Central Texans and new opportunities for university students, he said.

Officials hope to open the complex in 2029 or 2030, after demolishing the Erwin Center.

The initiative will significantly expand the university’s Dell Medical School. The MD Anderson Cancer Center is a branch of the UT System and has many locations around Houston. Two weeks ago, MD Anderson was named No. 1 in the nation for cancer care in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2023-24 best hospitals survey. It is the largest cancer center in the nation and one of the original comprehensive cancer centers in the country.

For decades, Austin has been somewhat of a health care desert for certain kinds of specialty care.

Previously, the city just wasn’t big enough to support the kind of world-class health care institutes that Houston boasts, Hartzell said.

“Austinites, to get this type of top-level care, have been forced to leave the market,” Hartzell said.

Opening the hospitals will involve partnerships with the city, officials said. Eltife briefed Austin Mayor Kirk Watson on the announcement before Monday’s event, he said. Watson had served with Eltife in the Texas Senate.

“I’m thrilled the University of Texas System is building upon on our community investment by bringing MD Anderson’s world-class cancer care to Austin,” Watson said in a statement.

Watson played a key role in the development of the UT Dell Medical School, which Travis County voters approved more than a decade ago.

“In 2011, I laid out ‘10 Goals in 10 Years’ to transform the health and economy of our community,” he said. “The following year, the voters of Travis County laid the foundation for today’s announcement by investing in the creation of a medical school at the University of Texas in 2012.”

The news is exciting, said Mike Geeslin, president and CEO of Central Health.

“For our low-income, uninsured neighbors, these new investments — especially in cancer care — could be game changers by providing more services right here in Travis County,” Geeslin said.

Along with cancer care, officials expect to bring cardiovascular and complex muscular-skeletal care to Austin.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: UT announces top-level hospital project with MD Anderson in Austin