BULLITT COUNTY — Construction is complete on the $25 million UofL Health – Brown Cancer Center at South Hospital, along the growing I-65 corridor in Bullitt County. The facility will also be home to UofL’s new Center for Rural Cancer Education and Research. Together, this regional cancer center will increase access to comprehensive cancer care in South, Central, and Western Kentucky.
“This new center is a significant step forward in bringing high-quality cancer care, research and education closer to the people who need it most,” said Kentucky Senator Mike Nemes. “For rural Kentucky families, access to innovative treatments, clinical trials and screenings closer to home can make a real difference. I’m proud the General Assembly helped make this investment possible and have enjoyed watching this center take shape from the ground up. I appreciate UofL’s commitment to improving healthcare and helping us better understand and address Kentucky’s high cancer rates.”
The 26,440-square-foot, two-story facility will provide much-needed resources for individuals facing cancer, providing patients with a closer-to-home option for innovative and compassionate care, along with access to clinical trials. The modern space was designed to offer a supportive environment with an emphasis on improving outcomes for cancer patients in rural Kentucky.
Located off Interstate 65 (Exit 121) the cancer center will serve as a network base to extend access to cancer care across the commonwealth, specifically to the many rural communities across the state. This expansion of screenings, education, and outreach was made possible with funding support from the Kentucky General Assembly.
“The Brown Cancer Center has one unifying mission: To make cancer a disease of the past,” said Jason Chesney, MD, PhD, director and chief administrative officer of the Brown Cancer Center. “Our goal is to reduce the cancer death rate in Kentucky by 50% by 2035. We are getting closer to this goal, and our new rural cancer center brings cutting-edge cancer care and lifesaving clinical trials closer to more Kentuckians.”
This newest cancer center location becomes the fourth Brown Cancer Center in the state, representing a continued commitment to serve patients from every corner of Kentucky. In 2023, Brown Cancer Center oncologists saw patients from nearly every Kentucky county, including more than 15,000 outpatient encounters from South, Central, and Western Kentucky.
The multidisciplinary team is at the core of all Brown Cancer Center care, leveraging the expertise of its surgical, medical, and radiation oncologists, plus nurse navigators and others to ensure treatment plans are personalized to each patient. The team-based approach is a centerpiece of all four Brown Cancer Center locations.
