About Brown Cancer Center
Brown Cancer Center History
1972
The 'Cancer Center' is formed to administratively merge the UofL's School of Medicine cancer programs but there is no building to house it. It becomes known as the "Cancer Center without Walls"
1977
The Regional Cancer Center Corporation Board (RCCC), a group of Louisville citizens, raises funds for the construction and operation of the Cancer Center.
1981
Construction is complete and the James Graham Brown Cancer Center opens.
1987
The RCCC Board donates the Cancer Center to the University of Louisville.
1999
UofL President Dr. John Shumaker makes achievement of Comprehensive Cancer Center designation by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) one of the three highest priorities for UofL.
1999
Donald M. Miller, M.D., Ph.D., is recruited from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center to become Director of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center.
1999
The Donald E. Baxter Biomedical Research Building (Baxter I) opens.
1999
John O. Trent, Ph.D., is recruited from the University of Alabama at Birmingham to establish the Molecular Modeling Core Facility. Six additional faculty are recruited to the JGBCC from institutions around the country.
2000
The Multidisciplinary Melanoma Clinic opens.
2000
John W. Eaton, Ph.D., is recruited from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, as the James Graham Brown Foundation Endowed Chair of Cancer Biology, and is named Deputy Director, and Head of the Molecular Targets Program.
2000
Eight additional faculty are recruited to the Cancer Center from other institutions around the country.
2000
Wolfgang Zacharias, Ph.D., is recruited from the University of Alabama at Birmingham to establish the Microarray Core Facility.
2000
The Kentucky Lung Cancer Research Fund is enabled by KRS 164.476 and funded by Tobacco Settlement Funds. Monies from this progam will support the Cancer Center as it readies to submit the application for NCI designation as well as 31 investigator-initiated research grants on lung cancer in the first 4 years.
2000
Connie L. Sorrell, MPH, Director of the Kentucky
Cancer Program, is named Associate Director for Community Outreach.
2001
Andrew N. Lane, Ph.D., is recruited from the National Institute of Medical Research, London, England, to be the James Graham Brown Foundation Endowed Professor of Structural Biology, to head the Structural Biology Program and establish a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Core Facility.
2001
The Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Clinic opens.
2001
The James Graham Brown Foundation awards a $15 million 3-year grant to the Cancer Center.
2001
Mariusz Z. Ratajczak, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc., is recruited from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, to establish and head the Developmental Biology Program.
2001
Ten additional faculty are recruited to the Cancer Center from other institutions around the country.
2002
The Molecular Imaging Research Center, a 13,000 square foot addition to the Cancer Center, opens. This state-of-the-art Center houses a PET/CT scanner, 2 cyclotrons for clinical use, and 800 Mhz and 600 Mhz NMR instruments.
2002
The National Cancer Institute funds the James Graham Brown Cancer Center P20 planning grant – the first step toward NCI designation
2002
Robert P. Edwards, M.D., A. Bennett Jenson, M.D., and Shin-je Ghim, Ph.D., are recruited from Pennsylvania to head the cervical cancer research program.
2002
Thirteen additional faculty are recruited to the Cancer Center from other institutions around the country.
2003
The state-of-the-art Delia Baxter Biomedical Research Building (Baxter II) opens.
2003
Sixteen faculty are recruited to the JGBCC from other institutions around the country
2003
$11,038,000 National Institutes of Health Center of Biomedical Research Excellence in Molecular Targets grant is awarded to the Cancer Center – the largest grant awarded in the history of the UofL.
2003
Denver E. Allen, Jr. is recruited from the University of West Virginia, Morgantown, to be the Director for Development.
2003
Anees B. Chagpar, M.D., is recruited from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, to be head of the Breast Cancer Program
2003
University Hospital and the UofL Foundation commit $7,500,000 to renovate the Cancer Center clinical facilities
2004
Kentucky Economic Development’s Office for the New Economy grants the Cancer Center $2,000,000 for Experimental Therapeutics research
2004
Patent attorney Jennifer McGehee Marsh, Ph.D., J.D., is recruited to manage Cancer Center intellectual property.
2004
Patricia A. Melvin, M.B.A., is recruited to be the Associate Director for Clinical Operations.
2004
Heather E. Falman is recruited to be the Assistant Director for Development.
2004
Kick-off of the $41,500,000 James Graham Brown Cancer Center Capital Campaign with the launch of the Family Campaign
2004
J. Brad Chaires, Ph.D., is recruited from the University of Mississippi, Jackson, to establish the Biophysics Core Facility.
2004
AGRO100, an aptamer discovered by Drs. Paula J. Bates, Donald M. Miller and John O. Trent, begins a Phase I Clinical Trial at the JGBCC
2004
The Multidisciplinary Breast Clinic opens.
2004
David W. Hein, Ph.D., is named Head of the Cancer Prevention Program.
2004
New 25-bed in-patient Oncology Unit, 8 South, opens at UofL Hospital.
2004
Richard E. Goldstein, M.D., is named Head of the Tumor Biorepository
2004
Kelly M. McMasters, M.D., Ph.D., is named Associate Director for Clinical Research.
2004
Douglas C. Dean, Ph.D., is recruited from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, to be the Rounsavall Endowed Professor in Ocular Molecular Biology and is named Associate Director for Basic Research.
2004
Collaborative research agreement is signed with Large Scale Biology Corporation to grow Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine in tobacco plants.
2004
Haribabu Bodduluri, Ph.D., is named Head of the Tumor Immunobiology Program.
2004
Twelve faculty are recruited to the Cancer Center from other institutions around the country.
2004
The James Graham Brown Foundation announces second $15 million 3-year gift to the Cancer Center.
2004
Total renovations of the third floor from research space to state-of-the-art clinics is completed and the Humana Multidisciplinary Clinics open.
2004
James Graham Brown Cancer Center partners with Kentucky Dataseam to install molecular screening software on middle and high school Apple computers to screen for potential cancer drugs.
2005
Five new endowed chairs are created with funds raised through the Cancer Center Capital Campaign with matching funds committed through the Commonwealth of Kentucky “Bucks for Brains” program.
2005
Jennifer McGehee Marsh, Ph.D., J.D., is recruited to be the Executive Administrator.
2005
The legislature of the Commonwealth of Kentucky dedicates $0.05 of the June 1, 2005, increase in tax on every pack of cigarettes sold in Kentucky to the Cancer Center for cancer research.
2005
Resources are committed to build a new, state-of-the-art Biomedical Research Building, which is scheduled to open in 2007.
2005
Renovations of the second floor to state-of-the-art clinics are completed.