MD Anderson expands to Austin, building facility at University of Texas
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is expanding its reach outside of the Greater Houston area for the first time ever!
They are building a massive facility on UT's campus in Austin. An aging Longhorns basketball arena is coming down on the University of Texas campus in Austin to make way for the #1 cancer center in the country.
"It is one of the most exciting things that has happened in the 85+ year history of MD Anderson! We could not be more excited to have the opportunity to take what we know is the best quality cancer care in the United States to the capital of our state in Austin. So many Austin patients are already coming to Houston for care for us to be able to get closer to them, to provide a better patient experience so they can get top quality care close to home, one of the most exciting things we'll ever get to do," states Chris McKee, who is the Vice President of Strategy & Business Development at MD Anderson.
The facility will expand Austin's medical district and provide all types of cancer care. The plan is to add resources that will have the most impact on Texans, so they don't have to travel so far for life-saving care.
"We are talking in the millions of square feet because being a comprehensive cancer center, it will be the full spectrum from where folks will come and get their outpatient visits, get their infusion therapy, their radiation therapy, full surgical capabilities. Then there will be the inpatient component of the hospital with all the services that go along with that from laboratory, pathology, diagnostic imaging, and everything else that we use to surround patients," says McKee.
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It's also a powerful partnership for the state and with their university system.
"State leaders also wanting there to be that kind of high-quality cancer here in Austin and looking to MD Anderson to be able to provide that. We are very happy to be able to step in work with our colleagues in the UT System, work with our colleagues at UT Austin, and find the right way for us to be able to do that," explains McKee.
The planning phase is still underway but will share the quality care so many patients have grown accustomed to in the Texas Medical Center. While demolition is still underway, they plan to break ground in 2026 or 2027 and then open the facility and see the first patients in 2030.