Reviewers to study KU Cancer Center's application

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) - The University of Kansas Cancer Center will get one last chance this week to promote its application to become a National Cancer Institute.

The cancer center applied for the designation last September. On Tuesday and Wednesday, reviewers from the National Cancer Institute will be in Kansas City to judge the 600-page grant application and hear presentations from leaders throughout the cancer center.

Raymond Perez, medical director of the clinical research center, said the visit will give the university a chance to explain and defend its application.

Just ahead of the reviewers' visit, the Hall Foundation awarded a $10 million gift to help NCI designation efforts. Most of the money will be spent on staffing and research at the KU Clinical Research Center. Three million dollars of the gift will be spent at Truman Medical Center to hep diagnosed cancer patients pay who cannot otherwise afford their care.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports (http://bit.ly/w4ieHU) the reviewers will forward their findings to the committee that decides whether to fund the grants for the cancer center designation.

After that, the cancer center will wait to hear a decision, likely sometime this summer.

National Cancer Institute reviewers are expected to tour the facilities on Tuesday in a presentation closed to the media.