Medical center urges $100 million state investment to pursue NCI designation and build cancer facility

Dr. Woodward, speaking for the state's academic medical center, told a legislative subcommittee that the institution is seeking $100,000,000 in state support to build the research capacity required to pursue National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation and to improve cancer outcomes in Mississippi.

The presenter said the state's medical center is the only academic medical center in Mississippi, operates as a safety-net hospital with more than 1,000 licensed beds and trains thousands of learners. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, the center's research mission brought in "over a $100,000,000" in external funding, primarily from the National Institutes of Health, the presentation said.

Why it matters: Mississippi's cancer outcomes are among the worst in the nation, the presenter said, with particularly poor results clustered in parts of the Delta. NCI designation would expand access to clinical trials, prevention programs and specialty expertise locally, which researchers and administrators say improves survival rates.

Details of the request: Dr. Woodward described a multi-part plan. The medical center is pursuing NCI designation (a process that requires significant research "horsepower"), seeking $100,000,000 in a state budget line item to support research recruitment and program building, and simultaneously leading a capital campaign for a $250,000,000 cancer facility. The campaign's quiet-phase goal was $125,000,000; the presenter said the institution is "knocking on the door of $90,000,000" raised so far. Separately, federal requests of about $40,000,000 have been submitted to support renovation and site preparation.

Financing and constraints: Dr. Woodward told lawmakers the medical center expects to cover any remaining capital need with revenue bonds as is typical for clinical expansion, but said the IHL (institutions of higher learning) debt-capacity review would determine how much could be carried by bonds. In response to committee questions, Dr. Woodward said the center has been in discussions with NCI staff and that the agency has been "exceedingly encouraging" while still requiring the full standards to be met.

Committee response and questions: Committee members asked how much of the project could reasonably be financed with revenue bonds and whether the center should build bricks-and-mortar before it had firm assurance of NCI designation. Lawmakers pressed for the level of confidence the designators have given the center; Dr. Woodward said engagement with NCI and support from the federal delegation (including requests led by Senators Wicker and Hyde-Smith and Rep. Michael Guest) were active and supportive but did not amount to a formal guarantee.

Other context: The presenter highlighted other recent state-supported openings, including the Alice G. Clark Center for medically fragile children (a 20-bed pediatric skilled nursing facility), a burn center opened nearly a year ago and an upcoming adolescent inpatient psychiatric unit, and noted state support for a $65 million nursing school project that received $55 million in state funding.

Next steps: The presentation closed with committee members thanking the delegation; no vote was taken. Presenters said fundraising and federal outreach would continue and that financing details would be worked through the IHL bond process and administrative review.

Quote: "Our ask is for a $100,000,000 to support this project," Dr. Woodward said, framing the request as necessary to secure NCI-level research capacity.

Notes on sourcing: All attributions and figures come from the presenters' slides and remarks to the subcommittee during the recorded presentation. Where the transcript used differing name spellings for a senior research leader, the article avoids using the inconsistent spelling and instead cites the center's description of ongoing recruitment and federal engagement.