Media contact: Brianna Hoge
The affiliation between the UAB O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center and Infirmary Cancer Care will bring NCI-designated comprehensive cancer care to the Gulf Coast region for the first time. The UAB Health System and Infirmary Health have entered a relationship to bring collaborative, comprehensive cancer services to patients in southern Alabama, southeast Mississippi and the Florida panhandle. The result of a multi-year planning effort on behalf of the leadership of the two organizations, this partnership was born with the goal of decreasing the burden of cancer, improving outcomes, and expanding cancer scientific discovery through an increased footprint and resources of both organizations.
“As Infirmary Health developed its cancer program, Infirmary Cancer Care, we wanted to have a meaningful and care-altering partnership that would enable us to continue to offer the highest level of care for our patients,” said Mark Nix, president and CEO of Infirmary Health. “Collaboration and affiliation with the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, one of the few National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the country, makes this goal possible, and we are confident our collaborative future with UAB will further our organization’s vision of being the first choice for health care in our region.”
With the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB serving as the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Alabama and Infirmary Health as the largest integrated health system in south Alabama and along the central Gulf Coast, the blending of expertise, resources and services between the two organizations will foster collaboration in clinical care, basic translational care services, prevention and early cancer detection among existing and new patients.
“At UAB, our mission is to strive to offer an NCI-designated level of cancer care to anyone with cancer in the state of Alabama and bordering states, and this new partnership enables us to do just that,” said Barry Sleckman, M.D., Ph.D., director of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. “Partnering with Infirmary Cancer Care allows us to extend our impact and provide our expertise to a broader patient population and to expand access to cancer clinical trials while allowing patients to remain close to home. Their knowledge of the local health care landscape will be invaluable as we jointly serve patients in the region.”
Patients will continue to receive care at Infirmary Cancer Care’s five locations in Mobile and Baldwin counties but will now have access to the expertise of cancer experts and multidisciplinary teams at UAB, opening the door for expanded treatment options, most notably clinical trials.
While collaborating closely, both organizations will provide clinical services under their existing licenses and legal entities. There is no change in ownership as a result of this partnership.
For both the UAB Health System and the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB, this partnership furthers the enterprise’s commitment to providing the highest level of care possible for all Alabamians and for those who seek medical services from UAB Medicine.
“Partnering with Infirmary Health in this capacity allows us the ability to extend our impact statewide, which is paramount to our mission here at UAB Medicine,” said Dawn Bulgarella, CEO of the UAB Health System. “We look forward to a prosperous, collaborative partnership with Infirmary Health and together continuing to enhance the level of cancer care that patients have access to in our state.”
“This partnership is monumental for health care in Alabama and the cancer patients of our region,” said Furhan Yunus, M.D., director of Infirmary Cancer Care. “Through our collaboration, Infirmary Cancer Care patients will now have access to more than 200 clinical trials and the resources of an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center close to home. This will improve not only the outcomes for our patients but also their quality of life during their cancer treatment and beyond.”