Tim Stanley
Tulsa World Staff Writer
A university-based cancer hospital located in Oklahoma City is expanding to Tulsa, where it will focus on providing research-driven cancer care to all of northeastern Oklahoma.
Officials announced on Wednesday that OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center — the state’s only National Cancer Institute-designated hospital — will be opening a hospital in Tulsa.
Officials said the hospital will help fill a void in cancer treatment and screening created when Cancer Treatment Centers of America closed its Tulsa hospital in 2021.
“This is a landmark day for OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center and the state of Oklahoma,” University of Oklahoma President Joseph Harroz Jr. said during an announcement event held at OU-Tulsa’s Schusterman Center. “As part of Oklahoma’s flagship academic health center, Stephenson Cancer Center’s mission is to reduce the burden of cancer across our state.”
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“Anyone that’s been through the process of dealing with cancer understands that geography matters,” Harroz added. “It’s difficult to try and continue to live while dealing with cancer and go too far from home. It’s costing lives, and it’s leading to unnecessary suffering every single day. … This expansion brings local access to people in Tulsa and surrounding communities who can receive the best research-driven cancer care while staying close to their families and support systems.”
Stephenson Cancer Center is named after Tulsans Charles and Peggy Stephenson, who donated millions of dollars for the Oklahoma City facility with the expectation that it would one day expand to Tulsa.
The couple are pledging another $25 million toward the Tulsa expansion.
“Peggy and I are grateful to be a part of the effort to bring the best treatment and clinical trials to Tulsa,” said Charles Stephenson, founder of Tulsa-based Vintage Petroleum.
“People are cared for in a very compassionate and professional way at Stephenson Cancer Center, and that is what we want to bring to northeastern Oklahoma.”
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum thanked OU and its partners for making the expansion happen.
“This center has 100% support from the city of Tulsa,” the mayor said. “We’re going to do everything that we can to make this a tremendous success in our community.”
“This will impact the lives of people all throughout this part of the state,” Bynum added. “Access to NCI-level care is going to save the lives of our neighbors by having this here in Tulsa.”
The hospital will be built on the OU-Tulsa campus, 4502 E. 41st St.
However, its presence there will start almost right away, with providers beginning to see patients and conduct clinical trials in Tulsa this summer, officials said.
The Stephenson Cancer Center opened in 2011 on the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center campus in Oklahoma City.
The Tulsa expansion will be funded through a public-private partnership and includes an initial $50 million appropriation by the state Legislature from the American Rescue Plan Act and the state General Revenue Fund to the University Hospitals Authority and Trust.
Harroz said OU has committed to raise $100 million privately. It has a good start toward the goal, he added: the Stephensons’ pledge of $25 million, along with up to $8 million from the Cherokee Nation as part of a tribal partnership with OU.
Cherokee Nation Deputy Principal Chief Bryan Warner said: “I’m so excited and proud that Chief Hoskin, myself, the Tribal Council of the Cherokee Nation have been willing to pledge up to $8 million for this fantastic facility that no doubt will bring hope into the lives of those that feel that they are thrown into the shadows.”
The hospital obtained the NCI designation, considered the gold standard for research-driven cancer care, in 2018, and it was renewed last year.
Officials said many facilities have oncology but that the NCI designation means the latest research protocols are being used, as well as clinical trials.
Survival for those treated at an NCI facility is 25% greater past one year than for those treated elsewhere, officials said.
Cancer mortality rates in northeastern Oklahoma are some of the highest in the state, and over the next 10 years, the need for outpatient cancer care is expected to increase by 13% in that area, officials said.
Northeastern Oklahomans currently have the lowest participation rates in clinical trials at the Stephenson Cancer Center in Oklahoma City, underscoring the need for the expanded access, officials said.
Dr. Robert Mannel, director of the Stephenson Cancer Center, emphasized the importance of regional hubs in providing high-quality care and clinical trials to urban and rural populations.
“Our goal is to eliminate the barriers to accessing top-tier cancer care,” he said. “This commitment to Tulsa is crucial in our mission to serve all Oklahomans.”
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