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The basics:

• Morris Cancer Center now fully operational in New Brunswick
• Facility serves hundreds daily with outpatient and inpatient care
• Integrated research and treatment driving innovation in oncology
• RWJBarnabas and Rutgers expanding statewide cancer care network

Activity is buzzing at the new Jack & Sheryl Morris Cancer Center in New Brunswick. The new state-of-the-art hub is the state’s only freestanding cancer hospital – a cutting-edge facility that stands 12 stories and covers 520,000 square feet.

The Morris opened its doors for outpatient care June 23. RWJBarnabas Health and the Rutgers Cancer Institute operate the facility, with an aim of providing welcoming, comfortable and innovative care for cancer patients – as well as support services and amenities for their loved ones.

“I’m just really excited for what this is going to do for our patients,” Dr. Steven Libutti, who serves as the first director of the new facility, told NJBIZ during a recent visit. He also serves as director of Rutgers Cancer Institute and senior vice president of oncology services for RWJBarnabas Health. “The facility itself is going to enable our providers and our nurses and our staff to execute at a level that has been aspirational for us. The skillsets have always been there – the compassion, the knowledge, the know-how.

“But now to have this beautiful space to do it – and really for the patients to benefit from, is just exciting. I get goosebumps every time I come in the building.”

Libutti said that it is comforting not just for the patients, but also for the folks who work there.

“It’s state-of-the-art. We’ve considered all sorts of, not only modern amenities, but technologies to make processes more efficient and easier for our folks,” said Libutti. “It’s something we’ve all waited for for such a long time – and now it’s finally – it’s come to life. It was great at the ribbon cutting; it’s been great to come in and tour it and see the progress that it’s made over time.

“But now to really have patients coming in and actually using it – super exciting.”

‘No other place like it’

The Morris plans to serve nearly 1,000 patients a day as it continues to ramp up operations – patients such as 5-year-old Serina Patel, who is being treated for leukemia and who NJBIZ spotlighted, along with her family, during that June 23 visit.

“What I’m most excited about – and there’s many things to be excited about in terms of the way we focused on the patient experience, bringing different experts, multidisciplinary teams to be able to work together in a common space; having one-stop-shop outpatient, inpatient, imagine, all that,” Libutti explained. “But for me, I think the greatest manifestation of what we’re all about is the science happening in the same place as the clinical care.

“That our patients can see the work that our researchers are doing every day to try to come up with the next generation of treatments. And our researchers see the patients that they’re laboring on behalf of in terms of the mission. And so having those two sides of the same coin together in one space, literally that could see each other as that’s happening – is really what makes the place unique and special.”

Asked what it means for New Jerseyans to have such a facility close by, Libutti cited proximity and its unique features.

“It’s super exciting. People in New Jersey shouldn’t have to feel like they have to travel to Manhattan or Philadelphia to get the kind of exceptional care that one expects to receive from a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center,” said Libutti. “Now, New Jersey has its own cancer hospital – and that’s really exciting.

“And at least for the time being, there’s no other place like it. And I hope that other places want to replicate it – because I think we’ve taken so many things into consideration about focusing on the patient; about providing an environment for new discovery to happen – that I hope it gets replicated in other places.”

A place for hope

As far as the message to patients and their families is concerned, Libutti summed it up succinctly – hope.

“I had a mentor, Steve Rosenberg, when I was coming up through my training in the early part of my career, who said that every cancer patient deserves an optimistic oncologist. And how much more optimistic could any oncologist be being able to work in a facility like this on behalf of their patients.”

Jack Morris, the developer (president and CEO at Edgewood Properties), longtime supporter (Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Board of trustees chair) and namesake of the new facility, said that the Cancer Center is more than unique.

“It’s life-changing, game-changing; and it’s just something that’ll be near and dear to all of our hearts forever,” Morris told reporters.

“It gives us the ability to do things we couldn’t do before – and I don’t think they ever envisioned would be available to them,” said Morris. He noted the capabilities and work that the team members will have and do in this state-of-the-art space. “That’s the difference.”

More to come

Morris stressed how this place was designed for patient comfort, as well as for their family and loved ones.

“Everybody’s involved,” said Morris, noting that sometimes that aspect is forgotten. “It’s about the family. It’s not about the individual – it’s about the patient and the family. It’s so important – because a lot of people forget that until you’re in that situation.”

He noted how this is personal for him – reflecting on when his grandmother was in that situation and how it impacted his family. Morris says that now families in New Jersey will have a place to feel comfortable and hopeful as their loved ones receive treatment.

And this facility is the cornerstone of a broader effort by RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute to invest in and expand cancer services throughout the state. Other efforts will include the Melchiorre Cancer Center at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston (set to open in the fall) and the Cancer Care Center at the Vogel Medical Campus in Tinton Falls (scheduled to open next year). Both will offer a wide array of diagnosis and treatment options in an outpatient setting, working in concert along with The Morris for a comprehensive statewide oncology network.

“It’s the Quaternary Hub. The discoveries and the protocols that are developed here get pushed down through our entire footprint – from Jersey City down to Toms River,” said RWJBarnabas Health president and CEO Mark Manigan. “And anybody who comes into our sphere of care, whether it’s through the emergency room, a primary care practice, or a specialty practice – irrespective of where they are in the state, has access to what’s going on.

“And to the extent we can distribute the care back to a local venue, of which we have many for the day-to-day care – cancer doesn’t travel well and it’s terribly inconvenient in so many ways. But if we can make the experience of being a patient and a family member of a patient better – we’re very focused on that.”