UAMS on track to request NCI status by 2025

Cancer clinical trials noted

FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences remains on course to submit its application for National Cancer Institute designation no later than 2025, UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson said last week.

UAMS has made major strides over the past several years in cancer care, and “our community outreach is spectacular,” Patterson told the University of Arkansas System board of trustees during a meeting Thursday at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. “Getting our clinical trials over 200 is our focus, and I think we will next year.”

Treatment trials increase every year, “and that’s what NCI wants to see,” said Michael Birrer, UAMS vice chancellor and director of the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. “We’ve put more people on trials this year already than we did all of last year.”

The Phase 1 Unit was established under Birrer in 2021 to bring new treatment trials to UAMS and the state, and 10 active trials are now open to enrollment, he said. These are “drugs that may never have been in a human — a little risky, but [tremendous] rewards.”

NCI designation is the country’s most distinguished status for cancer centers, and there are 71 NCI-designated cancer centers in the country, but none in Arkansas, according to UAMS. More than two-thirds of funds awarded by NCI for research and clinical trials go to NCI-designated centers, and many NCI community outreach and program grants are only offered to NCI-designated cancer centers.

UAMS projects that NCI designation would have an economic impact of $72 million to the state annually.

NCI status will also help UAMS improve its various rankings, such as the annual assessment of hospitals by U.S. News & World Report, said Michelle Krause, senior vice chancellor for UAMS Health and chief executive officer for UAMS Medical Center.

NCI designation requires physical space, organizational capabilities, transdisciplinary collaboration and coordination, cancer focus, institutional commitment and a “competent” center director, Birrer said. UAMS has a “clear, strong” commitment to cancer treatment, “we’ve

made a lot of progress” with clinical trials, and will serve “the entire state.”

In fact, “our niche” when applying for NCI status will be “rural — Arkansas is a rural state — and undeserved areas,” particularly the delta, he said. For example, UAMS plans to renovate a facility in Jonesboro so there’s “a functional cancer clinic” there next year.

UAMS is also blanketing the state with nurse “navigators” to address cancer care, he said. “It’s important we earn the trust” of people living in the state’s rural communities “and address their priorities.”

Earlier this month, UAMS had a new MammoVan — “it’s gorgeous” — delivered to provide mammograms, with two more on the way, one by the end of this year and a third funded by federal dollars, he said. “It’s nice to know [the federal government] is on

board and sees we’re serious about cancer care in Arkansas.”

UAMS also provides cancer care for Baptist Health, he said. “It’s an important win-win.”

Since 2020, Birrer has recruited 25 faculty researchers who brought with them nearly $13 million in funding, he said. “You hire the right people, they bring the money.”

In terms of facilities upgrades, UAMS and the Cancer Institute brought all breast cancer services to one location — which boasts four mammography machines, four ultrasounds and 14 patient dressing rooms — for comfort and convenience, he said. It’s “state of the art, [and] women get their mammogram results within 24 hours.”

This year, the Radiation Oncology Center already opened, while the Proton Center of Arkansas — a partnership between the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Baptist Health and Proton International

— will open next month at the Radiation Oncology Center on the UAMS campus in Little Rock, he said. The “only proton center in Arkansas is a great addition, particularly for children” who previously had to leave the state for that treatment — it offers a highly targeted radiation therapy that uses protons instead of X-rays to attack cancerous tumors.

Because “it’s football season,” Col. Nate Todd employed a gridiron analogy to describe the progress toward NCI status Thursday, calling the staff Birrer has assembled “fivestar recruits” and the assault on cancer in the state akin to a game where a team rolls up “500 yards of offense.” The trustee added that “with the work I’m seeing, we’re going to be a world-class cancer center.”

Continuing the football analogy, Birrer noted in response to Todd that it’ll be “all touchdowns, no field goals,” in terms of cancer care from UAMS.