Governor proposes $5 million for KU Cancer Center

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, g’80, announced her intention to make the KU Cancer Center one of the nation’s top sites for cancer research. On January 6, she called on the Legislature to commit $5 million annually to the center located at the KU Medical Center in Kansas City.  

“Cancer is one of the greatest health challenges we face,” said Sebelius.  “While we know more about it today than ever before, it remains a health crisis.”

Sebelius said her commitment to curing cancer comes from her family.  At age 10, she lost an aunt to the disease, and her husband, Gary, also lost both parents to cancer.

The KU Cancer Center focuses on four areas: cancer risk assessment, prevention and control; cancer biology; drug discovery and development and clinical research.

“The doctors, researchers and scientists here are devoted to advancing the cause of medicine, never forgetting the ultimate goal of medicine is to help people,” said Sebelius. “I truly believe this will be a center for cancer research not just for Kansas City, or for the state of Kansas, but for the entire Midwest.”

In September 2005, KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway declared obtaining National Cancer Institute designation for the cancer center as the University’s top priority overall. Dr. Roy Jensen, ’80, a Kansas native, was appointed director of the KU Cancer Center and the Kansas Masonic Cancer Research Institute to lead the effort.

“At the KU Cancer Center we are blessed with the support of a growing number of allies and friends,” Jensen said. “We will continue to reach out to build robust relationships with many other organizations who share our vision and passion. And we will seek the support of private donors who will find in our work a legacy worthy of their investment.”  

Statistics show nearly half of all Kansans will face a cancer diagnosis in their lifetimes.  Nearly 13,000 Kansans will be diagnosed with cancer this year alone.  More than 5,300 will die from the disease.  On average, 15 lives are lost each day to some form of cancer.

The economic costs of cancer are significant, not only to patients, but the state itself – more than $4.4 million a day according to the American Cancer Society are lost– due to lost productivity and premature deaths as well as direct medical costs.