News release from The University of Oklahoma Public Affairs, June 27, 2007.

University of Oklahoma President David L. Boren announced today that a $5 million gift from The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation has moved the University over the halfway mark in a $50 million private fund-raising campaign for the OU Cancer Institute. The announcement of the gift to support cancer research and fund construction on a new cancer treatment and clinical research facility was made at the June meeting of the OU Board of Regents.

"No Oklahoman with cancer should have to leave the state to receive the latest cancer treatment," Boren said. "The Noble Foundation has moved us significantly forward in the University's goal of offering the highest standard of cancer treatment right here in Oklahoma."

Of the $5 million Noble Foundation gift, $2.5 million will be used to support endowed faculty in the area of cancer research.

"Research represents our best ultimate hope in the fight against cancer," said Dr. Robert Mannel, Rainbolt Family Chair in Cancer and director of the OU Cancer Institute.

The other $2.5 million will help fund construction costs of the OU Cancer Institute's new cancer treatment and clinical research facility. The new $120 million, 213,000-square-foot facility will be a signature building on the OU Health Sciences Center campus in Oklahoma City. It will house all of the ambulatory cancer clinical services on campus, including radiation oncology, diagnostic imaging and multidisciplinary cancer clinics. In addition, the facility will provide an array of support services, including patient navigation, appearance and patient education centers, counseling and more.

University officials announced recently that the facility also would offer proton beam therapy, making the OU Cancer Institute just one of a handful of centers in the country to offer cancer patients this cutting-edge therapy.

With this gift from the Noble Foundation, the OU Cancer Institute has now passed the halfway mark in its private funding campaign with more than $27 million raised toward the goal. A related campaign directed by the Children's Medical Research Institute is raising an additional $15 million to fund children's cancer research.

This article from The University of Oklahoma Public Affairs, http://www.ou.edu/publicaffairs, on June 27, 2007.