The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees on Friday approved joint ventures among the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Baptist Health and Arkansas Children’s to expand access to radiation therapy as well as to establish the state’s first proton therapy center.
The UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute and Baptist Health have formed a joint venture to locate a radiation therapy center at Baptist Health Medical Center in North Little Rock, where UAMS physicians will provide radiation therapy starting in January 2021.
The board also approved a previously announced joint venture among UAMS, Arkansas Children’s and Baptist Health to develop and operate a proton therapy center in a building to be constructed on the east side of UAMS’ Little Rock campus.
UAMS said the center will be the first of its kind in Arkansas and one of only about 40 in the country.
“Not only will these joint ventures provide vital cancer therapies for the people of Arkansas, they also will expand the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute’s statewide reach and advance our efforts to achieve National Cancer Institute Designation,” Institute Director and UAMS Vice Chancellor Dr. Michael Birrer said in a news release.
Achieving National Cancer Institute Designation would increase the institute’s ability to receive federal research funding, improve access to clinical trials unavailable elsewhere in the state; and create high-paying health care jobs, according to the release.
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