Contact: Ernie Blazar 202.224.7627 Shana Stribling 202.224.0309
Saturday, May 5, 2001

COLUMBIA, MO - Today Senator Kit Bond paid a visit to Ellis Fischel Cancer Center in Columbia, Missouri. Ellis Fischel was the first hospital west of the Mississippi dedicated solely to cancer care and research and is now a nationally ranked cancer treatment and care center. Bond, who believes Missouri and the surrounding mid-state-region lacks the necessary access to a comprehensive, research-based cancer center said, “No one is exempt from the possibility of getting cancer and everyone deserves the best available medical research and care to fight the numerous diverse forms of this disease.”

As chairman of an Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Bond has worked to ensure that Ellis Fischel becomes a comprehensive cancer treatment center. Last year Bond earmarked $2 million in the Energy/Water bill towards this goal.

Once the Comprehensive Cancer Center is completed, Bond believes the capacity to deliver state-of-the-art research-based cancer and treatment care throughout Missouri and the region will greatly increase.

Bond’s visit to Ellis Fischel included a tour of the facilities and a discussion on the development of the Center, led by Dan Winship, the Vice Chancellor at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Several other notables participated in the discussion. Panel members included Dr. Bill Folk, Professor of Biochemistry; Dr. David Ota, Medical Director and Chief of Surgical Oncology and the Center; Dr. Michael Perry, Director of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Center, and Dr. Kim Wise, Associate Dean at the Research and Academic Affairs in the School of Medicine.