Texas Oncology and CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances announce the new outpatient treatment and research center which will be called the Northeast Texas Cancer and Research Institute.

For years, leaders at CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances and Texas Oncology met to come up with a partnership to help treat and care for cancer patients. With the new Louise Herrington Cancer Center on the fifth floor of the Bradley-Thompson Tower at Christus Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler opening, the partnership was announced.

Texas Oncology and CHRISTUS said the new outpatient treatment and research center will be called the Northeast Texas Cancer and Research Institute. A groundbreaking ceremony is expected in within four months and the doors will open in summer of 2022.

Dr. Steven Curley, director of the Christus Trinity Clinic Cancer Institute, said this brings world-class cancer care experience to Tyler.

“Our goal is to create a world-class cancer care experience. We want to keep growing. We want to bring in other specialists. Our medical oncologist colleagues at Texas Oncology are expanding, recruiting new caregivers,” Dr. Curley said. “The Louise Herrington Cancer Center and our future plans allow us to work in a true multidisciplinary fashion. The future of cancer care here is incredibly exciting.”

Texas Oncology–Tyler will feature clinical trials and research programs that have already helped in the development of major cancer breakthroughs like immunotherapy drugs such as Opdivo and Keytruda. Texas Oncology–Tyler oncologists have offered more than 550 clinical trials in which more than 8,100 area patients have participated.

Chris Glenney, senior vice president of group operations for CHRISTUS said working together is nothing new, as they have for 25 years.

“For cancer care, we are constantly working to determine the very best ways to provide care to our patients, and perhaps the most effective way to do that is to have great partnerships and great teams,” Glenney said. “We have collaborated with Texas Oncology for more than 25 years, with a wonderful clinic on our NorthPark facility in Tyler. They’ve been an ally and a collaborator in really everything we’ve done, from a cancer care perspective, and to be able to advance that relationship is significant for the people of East Texas.

“We are able to come together to jointly recruit physicians, to jointly create clinical programs to improve the care for our patients, to expand upon Texas Oncology already enormous research projects and then ultimately to look at opportunities to grow,” Glenney continued.. “That’s a big part of the what the vision has been and will continue to be for cancer care for this region and for Christus Health.”

Dr. Mark Sanders, the co-founder of Texas Oncology’s Tyler clinic and East Texas regional medical director for Texas Oncology said the institute would meet a variety of needs for cancer patients.

“The combination of expert inpatient care at Christus and Texas Oncology’s decades of experience in pioneering community-based care will continue to meet the comprehensive and varied cancer care needs of Northeast Texas,” Dr. Saunders said.

Jason Proctor, ministry president for Christus called the announcement a blessing.

“The longstanding relationship between Texas Oncology and Christus Trinity Mother Frances Health System has been a blessing to so many in the East Texas community, and there are significant projects on the horizon for both organizations,” Proctor said.

Glenney added, “Thanks to a significant investment and the future philanthropic support of the people of this community, we will be breaking ground on a state-of the-art outpatient cancer center imminently, with construction set to begin in the next few months. This new outpatient facility will allow health care providers to work in a true multidisciplinary fashion and to provide the most convenient and effective care for cancer patients across the region when it opens in summer 2022.”