UT Southwestern’s Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of the nation’s top destinations for patients seeking cancer treatments. Now it has a new radiation oncology building to call home that’s as sterling as its reputation.
In early April, Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center opened the doors to the new facility, which serves as an outpatient clinic of UT Southwestern’s William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital. With three floors and 63,000 square feet of space, the $66 million structure located on UT Southwestern’s east campus is the largest individual facility for radiation oncology in North Texas and the most comprehensive.
“From the very beginning, we wanted to put together a facility that’s not only state of the art but also modern and patient-friendly in design,” says Hak Choy, M.D., Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology. “We were determined that it be structured in such a way that it would enhance the delivery of quality care, create efficient patient management, promote collaboration among caregivers, and ensure high levels of safety.”
Bathed in natural light, the building’s interior offers a welcoming environment. Inside is an array of leading-edge technology to deliver the most advanced treatments, along with other features that patients might not notice but that will contribute to their care.
That includes an innovative real-time location tracking system that, among other things, lets team members know if patients have been waiting too long, or when a patient is done with a segment of care and is ready to move to the next one.
An additional feature of the building is that each major disease site, such as brain, breast, or gastrointestinal cancer, has its own dedicated areas for team members.
“That framework is consistent with how the Radiation Oncology Department treats cancer,” Dr. Choy says. “Each physician specializes in the treatment of a particular cancer type, enabling individual specialists to bring familiarity and expertise to each patient encounter.”
