Beneficiary

Proceeds from Treads & Threads 2025 will support a new global destination cancer center building for transformational cancer research and patient care at The University of Kansas Cancer Center. The cancer center is the region’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. Our new cancer center building will not only save more lives but will change more lives and our community for the better.

The University of Kansas Cancer Center will break ground on a world-class patient care and cancer research building that will be a global destination cancer center. Our goal is to become a destination for ground-breaking new therapies, leading-edge collaborative research and lifesaving therapies for cancer patients. This 21^st century cancer center will enable us, as the region’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and 1 of fewer than 60 nationwide, to change and save more lives. It will also dramatically transform cancer patient care and research – and Kansas City as a regional and national destination for the most advanced cancer care.

We are going to transform cancer care and research. We want to save lives and change lives through advanced research and therapeutics not available anywhere else. And we want to do it right here in Kansas. We envision a hub for world-class patient care and cancer research, making The University of Kansas Cancer Center a global destination and a beacon of hope for the cure to all cancers.

• We are at the forefront of treatment for hematologic malignancies – bone marrow transplants and CAR T-cell therapies, made possible by the research conducted here. 
• Today, there are 7 approved CAR T-cell therapies. In the next 5 years, there will be many times more, and the number will only grow. We can be the epicenter of this new frontier in cancer treatment. 
• These new treatments are not only more effective, but also less toxic to patients – allowing them to live with cancer in a way not previously possible. 
• Patients also will have access to more innovative clinical trials and groundbreaking therapies developed here.  

The new building will be located on the 39th and Rainbow campus, with construction slated to begin in spring 2025.

The University of Kansas Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated comprehensive cancer center in the region and one of fewer than 60 in the United States to receive this elite designation. NCI-designated cancer centers are recognized for pioneering the most groundbreaking advances in cancer treatment through scientific discovery and transformative patient care. It is the gold standard of excellence, awarded only to cancer centers with the deepest and broadest knowledge of cancer. Patients treated at an NCI-designated cancer center have a 25% greater chance of survival. Today, The University of Kansas Cancer Center’s clinical spaces and research facilities span Kansas and Missouri. We will continue to treat patients across the region in those community care centers. And at the same time, the new cancer center building will centralize world-class care and innovation by allowing the whole patient care experience to occur in one location, creating a more seamless experience for our patients and their families.