Two years after opening, the OSF HealthCare Cancer Institute in Peoria is ready to expand.
Built for $237 million, the 200,000-square-foot facility has served more than 77,000 patients. Now, a new fourth floor area will boost the building’s capabilities.
The new 29,000-square-foot fourth floor area will feature medical oncology, surgical oncology and research components, along with space for more clinical trials.
“I think it’s really good for patients to be able to get a lot of different perspectives, and this facilitates all of that,” said OSF Cancer Institute president Dr. James McGee. “It makes it more likely that the patients will get the best treatment regimens and recommendations possible.”
OSF announced Thursday it received approval from the State of Illinois for a certificate of need to proceed with the construction plans.
The fourth floor will expand the institute’s diagnostics and therapeutics program, and include private rooms for infusion.
“Ultimately, the goal of all of this is to improve health,” said McGee. “Part of the research is focused on that one patient with that particular bad problem for which nothing seems to be available, and finding a tool for that patient.
“But on a broader scale, the goal has to be to really address population health and how to reduce the number of people getting cancer, the number of people getting advanced cancer diagnoses. That really has to be where we are advancing.”
Along with the building expansion, the OSF Cancer Institute has added Dr. Robert McWilliams as its deputy director, joining a leadership team with McGee and vice president of oncology research Dr. Jun Zhang.
“There is so much here. Obviously, the physical facility and the Cancer Institute is incredible, and that brings everybody together,” said McWilliams, who previously spent 20 years on the faculty at the Mayo Clinic. “So that’s an opportunity for me to work with other cancer specialists, cancer leaders, researchers, to be able to generate what we want to do.
“The vision from the OSF leadership team and Dr. McGee is very much aligned with what I think we can accomplish. I mean, this is an inflection point. Right now, the resources and the commitment is there to make this a true destination center, a place where people will come from all over to get treatment and redefine how we care for cancer in the U.S.”
OSF said construction on the expansion project is scheduled for completion by the spring of 2027.
