The Medical College of Wisconsin hired global firm CannonDesign for what it called Milwaukee’s first research center dedicated to cancer therapies and treatments.
That MCW Cancer Research Building was first announced in 2019 as an about $100 million, 150,000-square-foot facility. It would expand on the cancer research the Medical College is already doing at the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center in Wauwatosa. Design work is to start this fall and will last into 2022, according to a Tuesday announcement of MCW’s hiring of CannonDesign.
The design team also includes Milwaukee architect Kahler Slater and other local firms, according to MCW.
“A top priority for the Medical College of Wisconsin is to accelerate discoveries that will help to eradicate the cancer burden in Wisconsin,” said Dr. Joseph Kerschner, provost and executive vice president of the Medical College of Wisconsin, and the Julia A. Uihlein, MA, Dean of the MCW School of Medicine.
CannonDesign is no stranger to the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center where the new MCW Cancer Research Building could be built. It designed the Froedtert & MCW Center for Advanced Care, and a four-year rehab of Froedtert Hospital that was completed in 2018.
The new research center will study Wisconsin’s rates of cancer, which are higher than the nationwide averages, and its higher occurrence among people of color.
The state of Wisconsin included a $10 million grant for the cancer research center in its 2019-2021 biennial budget. That money could be released with approval of the State Building Commission if MCW secures at least $85 million in financing from other sources.
