A rendering shows the upcoming Northeast Texas Cancer and Research Institute, an innovative cancer treatment and research facility. The institute is a joint effort by Christus Health and Texas Oncology and it is expected to open in 2022.

Christus Health and Texas Oncology leaders on Friday afternoon celebrated the start of the collaborative, innovative Northeast Texas Cancer and Research Institute with a groundbreaking ceremony.

The Northeast Texas Cancer and Research Institute, which is a joint effort by Christus Health and Texas Oncology, will be a 85,000-square-foot center with an anticipated 2022 opening.

Health care providers, nurses, associates and local and regional leaders attended the ceremony near the corner of Saunders and Lawrence on the Christus Mother Frances Hospital — Tyler campus.

The facility will include specialized areas for Texas Oncology – Tyler, including 30,000 square feet of clinic space for medical oncology, radiation oncology, and gynecologic oncology services and nearly 3,000 square feet dedicated to research.

These areas will also include linear accelerators for radiation therapy, 52 chemotherapy infusion stations – including six designated for research and four private rooms as well as pharmacy and lab services and an exercise area for patients.

Christus Health will house a 7,500-square-foot advanced imaging center with 3-tesla MRI, PET/CT, ultrasound, nuclear medicine and more.

The building will have additional 10,000 square feet of Christus Trinity Clinic space to support the surgical oncology programs of the Louise Herrington Cancer Center, an inpatient facility providing advanced care for complex cancer patients at Christus Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler.

“We are constantly working to determine the very best ways to provide cancer care to our patients, and perhaps the most effective way to do that is to have great relationships and great teams,” said Chris Glenney, senior vice president of group operations for Christus Health and CEO for Christus Health Northeast Texas. “We have had a successful collaboration with Texas Oncology for more than 25 years, with a wonderful clinic on our NorthPark campus in Tyler. They’ve been an ally and a collaborator, and this institute is a significant advancement for the people of Northeast Texas.”

Glenney said Friday was an exciting day for Christus Health and Texas Oncology as leaders celebrated the groundbreaking and upcoming construction.

The institute will provide an integrated way of treatment by taking care of the patient in a coordinated and efficient way, Glenny said.

“We believe that’s the best way to provide the best care — excellent physicians, great programs, a superior facility — and then hopefully patients will be able to get that care in a convenient and accessible way in East Texas,” Glenney said. “We have a mission of extending Christ’s healing ministry and this is an extension of a ministry that was started in 1937. So we’re so proud to represent our sisters and all the great work that they do.”

Glenney said he’s thankful for the partnership Christus has had with Texas Oncology over the years.

“To be able to have such an amazing partner that focuses on research, great physicians, taking care of the patient (it’s) pretty awesome we’ve had that relationship,” he said. “It’s been a positive relationship for all those years, but we needed the space; we needed the integrated institute. This is a major step forward.”

According to Christus and Texas Oncology, the new cancer institute will position Tyler as a leader in important cancer research.

Robust clinical trials and a research program at Texas Oncology – Tyler has aided in the development of major cancer breakthroughs including immunotherapy drugs. Texas Oncology – Tyler has offered over 550 clinical trials, in which more than 8,100 area patients have participated.

“The combination of skilled inpatient care at Christus Health and Texas Oncology’s decades of experience in pioneering comprehensive, community-based care will continue to meet the varied cancer care needs of this region,” said Dr. R. Steven Paulson, president and chairman of the board of Texas Oncology. “It matters that patients can get needed treatment here, with critical support from family, friends and coworkers nearby.”

Dr. Steven Curley, chief of the Christus Trinity Mother Frances Oncology Institute, said having a single site for treatment makes it much easier for the patients.

“We work as a team, we make patient care decisions as a team,” Curley said. “Working together, side-by-side, it can make those determinations on the best treatments for patients, the best evidence-based treatment for patients in real time.”

Curley said patients won’t have to go to Dallas or Houston to receive cancer treatment.

“We can provide state-of-art care right here in Northeast Texas so people don’t have to travel to a major city,” Curley said. “We’re doing trials here that are identical to trials that are being done in those major academic medical centers. We’re also performing the same types of major surgical procedures that are being performed in all those major medical centers.”

Dr. Mark Saunders, radiation oncologist and East Texas regional medical director for Texas Oncology, said the concept of creating the institute with Christus and Texas Oncology began 10 years ago.

Saunders added the most experienced, well-trained surgeons in the United States have been hand-picked for the new cancer institute.

“I think it’s going to change the way people perceive patient care in this area, not just in Tyler, but all throughout Northeast Texas,” Saunders said. “This is more than technology, this is more than the research. This is about a culture; it’s about a culture of faith and perseverance. It’s a culture of the quest for new cures for cancer and we’re all so passionate about that.”