The new facility will feature 70 exam rooms, 45 infusion spaces, three linear accelerators, comprehensive imaging capabilities including MRI and PET-CT, and dedicated clinical trial space designed to expand as the center grows. | Photo Credit: OU Health
By Lindsey Coulter
TULSA, Okla. — OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center recently celebrated the groundbreaking of a new 176,000-square-foot facility on the University of Oklahoma’s Schusterman Center campus in Tulsa, expanding access to National Cancer Institute-designated cancer care for thousands of northeast Oklahoma residents.
Set to open in 2028, the facility will directly address the state’s significant cancer burden, as Oklahoma is ranked fourth in the nation for cancer deaths. OU Health reported that, in 2025, it is estimated there will be roughly 24,000 new cancer diagnoses in the state, with approximately 8,300 occurring in northeast Oklahoma. Driven by high rates of pancreatic, hepatobiliary and other complex cancers often resistant to traditional therapies, outpatient cancer care needs are projected to increase by 14.2% through 2034.
Despite northeast Oklahoma’s high rates of cancer, the region has historically had the lowest clinical trial participation rates at Stephenson Cancer Center. The new facility in Tulsa aims to reverse this trend and reflects the critical importance of accessible cancer care.
“As Oklahoma’s only NCI-Designated Cancer Center, we have a responsibility to ensure every Oklahoman has access to the most advanced cancer care available,” said OU Health President and CEO Richard Lofgren, M.D., MPH. “This expansion reflects our commitment as the state’s flagship academic health system — providing access to destination programs, complex care, and research-driven therapies that lead to better outcomes. It also fulfills our winning aspiration to care for the sickest of the sick as a top-tier academic referral center.”
The new facility will feature 70 exam rooms, 45 infusion spaces, three linear accelerators, comprehensive imaging capabilities including MRI and PET-CT, and dedicated clinical trial space designed to expand as the center grows. Patients will have increased access to early-phase clinical trials, removing barriers to treatments that are often a last resort for those with complex cancers that don’t respond to standard regimens. It ensures patients in northeast Oklahoma receive the same caliber of care found at the nation’s top cancer centers, without having to leave Oklahoma. The project team includes Miles Architecture, CannonDesign, Olsson, Wallace Design Collective, IMEG, Manhattan Construction, Braden Shielding Systems and Rippe Associates.
“Our vision at Stephenson Cancer Center is to eliminate cancer in Oklahoma and beyond. Our mission is to provide patient-centered, research-driven, multidisciplinary cancer care,” said Robert Mannel, M.D., director of OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center. “Clinical trials offer hope for patients facing complex, rare or treatment-resistant cancers, and many of these early phase trials are only accessible in Oklahoma through Stephenson Cancer Center and our statewide network.”
The expansion will also strengthen OU Health’s collaboration with Hillcrest HealthCare System, which began in 2024, to deliver advanced cancer therapies and clinical trials to the residents of northeast Oklahoma. The new building will provide even more clinical space and serve as a clinical home for both local medical oncologists and academic physician scientists.
The expansion of Stephenson Cancer Center to Tulsa is facilitated by a robust public-private partnership and includes appropriations from the Oklahoma Legislature from the American Rescue Plan Act and the state General Revenue Fund to the University Hospitals Authority and Trust (UHAT). Contributions from the Cherokee Nation as well as gifts from the Norton, Trussell and Croteau families underscore the collaborative endeavor aimed at enhancing cancer care in northeast Oklahoma.