$23 Million Raised to Complete Oncology Capital Campaign

It is a new day in cancer care at GBMC. Patients are meeting their oncology teams in the welcoming, sunlit Sandra R. Berman Pavilion. A complete renovation, including new technology, is underway in the Sheila K. Riggs Radiation Oncology Center at the Sandra & Malcolm Berman Cancer Institute. 

And, just in time for these improvements, the capital campaign to support the projects has met its $23 million goal. Two key gifts came from organizations who know the program well. Berman Pavilion capital campaign Co-Chair and Radiation Oncology Chair Geoffrey A. Neuner, MD (pictured above), led the efforts to raise funds for and redesign his department. Dr. Neuner gave a presentation in December to GBMC’s Volunteer Auxiliary Board, which pledged $500,000 toward the project. The trustees of the Milton J. Dance, Jr. Endowment, after hearing from Dr. Neuner, have pledged $1 million. 

“Our volunteers are not only dedicated to helping patients each day, but they raise millions of dollars for GBMC,” Dr. Neuner said. A few members of the Volunteer Auxiliary Board have firsthand experience. They are grateful for GBMC’s patient-centered, multidisciplinary approach to treatment. 

“Cancer care has changed,” Dr. Neuner told both groups. “Patients and their oncologists now consider their options and plan a course of treatment together.” 

For this reason, the redesign includes multiple consultation rooms, located between exam rooms, where patients and their loved ones meet with the oncologist to develop a treatment plan. “Currently, we are having these conversations in the exam rooms,” Dr. Neuner says. “We want to provide our patients with more confidence and dignity.” 

The trustees of the Dance Endowment, led by Chair John R. Saunders, Jr., MD, and Treasurer Barbara Messing, Ph.D., also have personal experience of GBMC’s Radiation Oncology department as clinicians rather than as patients. Dr. Saunders serves on GBMC HealthCare’s board of directors. Having retired as GBMC’s chief medical officer in 2017, he cared for many patients who received radiation therapy as a surgeon here. Dr. Messing is the former manager of GBMC’s Milton J. Dance, Jr. Head and Neck Center. 

“The Dance Endowment board members understand our patients and their needs,” said Dr. Neuner. “It is rewarding to have their support.”

 Renovations to Radiation Oncology are already underway. A new linear accelerator was installed last year, and the CT Simulation suite is under construction. Once redesign plans are complete, construction will begin throughout the department. Crews will work on weekends and overnight so that patient care continues with minimal disruption. Plans call for work to be completed in 2026.