UAMS works to get cancer designation

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is working to get a National Cancer Institute designation for its cancer center.

The designation is more about cancer research infrastructure and assumes that those applying for the status already excel in cancer clinical care, said Dr. Peter Emanuel, the director of UAMS’ Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. Emanuel was addressing the University of Arkansas board of trustees during a meeting Thursday on the UAMS campus.

He said the academic medical center has already met most of the requirements but is just shy of the preferred amount of annual grant awards that it receives for cancer-related research. The national institute expects applicants to receive $18 million to $20 million in cancer-related grants annually, Emanuel said. UAMS currently gets $14 million to $15 million in grants for cancer-related research, he said.

To increase its grant amount, Emanuel said, UAMS would need to recruit from six to 12 more scientists, who already have grant funding from the national institute and would bring their projects along with them

If it earns the designation, UAMS would be the first in the state with the status. The closest health care facilities with the designation are St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.