When the five-story, 137,000-square-foot Melchiorre Cancer Center opens on the campus of Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston later this year, it will be a state-of-the-art facility that serves as a hub for cancer care for RWJBarnabas Health in the Northern Region of the state.
Working in conjunction with the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the Melchiorre Center will help oversee and coordinate care in the region, including treatment at Newark Beth Israel and Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville — while collaborating with the new Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center in New Brunswick.
RWJBH officials have long said this systemwide approach, anchored by the Rutgers Cancer Institute, the state’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, is a key to their approach to fighting cancer.
The approach certainly appealed to Dr. George Raptis, a nationally recognized breast cancer specialist with a distinguished academic and clinical career in New York City, who came to the system just over a year ago and will serve as director of oncology services for the Northern Region.
Raptis praised the impact the Morris Cancer Center will have on cancer research and care, but said the Melchiorre Cancer Center will be a game-changer, too — saying it will have equal access to research and clinical trials and that he will sit on the same committees that determine what research should be done.
It’s all part of the overall system setup, Raptis said.
“The way I would describe it is multiple hubs and a few spokes,” he said.
The $225 million Melchiorre Cancer Center, made possible by a visionary gift from Andrea and Anthony Melchiorre, certainly is impressive on its own. It will feature:
- 52 examination rooms
- 46 private infusion rooms
- 8 short-stay treatment spaces
- 6 extended-stay treatment spaces
- Radiation oncology treatment and specialty machines
- Radiology suite with PET CT, MRI, X-Ray, ultrasound and fluoroscopy
Dr. Steve Libutti, the director of Rutgers Cancer Institute, said the Melchiorre Cancer Center, along with the Vogel Medical Campus in Monmouth County and the Morris Center in New Brunswick, will bring together nationally recognized physicians and provide the most advanced cancer treatments and compassionate care for the communities RWJBH serves.
“RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute have created an integrated, world-class network of comprehensive cancer research and care, bringing new state-of-the-art facilities such as the Melchiorre Cancer Center close to home for patients,” Libutti said. “We are extremely grateful to supporters like the Melchiorre family who are helping us transform the face of cancer, together.”
Over the past 12 years, the Melchiorre family has been extremely generous to the hospital, supporting numerous programs, including the Cooperman Family Pavilion, radiation oncology and the emergency department. The family’s most recent commitment brings its total giving to the hospital to nearly $50 million.
Andrea and Anthony Melchiorre said they were thrilled to be able to have such impact.
“Like countless families, we have been personally touched by cancer,” they said. “We know that this new cancer center, which will bring together the region’s top oncologists with best-in-class services in one dedicated setting, will bring renewed hope to people in New Jersey and throughout the region.”
For information about Melchiorre Cancer Center, go to rwjbh.org.
