Tuesday, November 7, 2006
University of Kansas Medical Center
School of Nursing Building Atrium
10:00 AM
Order of Presenters:
Chancellor Robert Hemenway
Governor Kathleen Sebelius
Geoffrey Hamilton-Fairley, Chairman, Oncimmune
Professor John Robertson, Nottingham University, Founder and CSO, Oncimmune
Chancellor Hemenway:
Good morning, and thank you all for being with us today for this special announcement. I am Robert Hemenway, Chancellor of the University of Kansas, and along with Barbara Atkinson, the Executive Vice Chancellor of the KU Medical Center, and Richard Lariviere, the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor at KU’s Lawrence campus, I want to welcome you to the University of Kansas.
I particularly want to thank our friends in the media for being here today. I would like to think that the subject of this press conference generated such a high level of interest but I suspect having the Governor here on election day might have something to do with the good turnout. In any event, we are pleased to welcome you all. And to remind all of our guests that the polls will be open until 7 p.m. this evening.
We are proud to have partnered with a number of organizations whose leadership, expertise, advocacy and support greatly contributed to the success we are pleased to announce today. Many of these organizations are represented here today by directors and staff, and I am pleased to recognize these valued partners:
Sciences Institute
The University is grateful for these gifted leaders who together work to advance our region’s quest to become a global leader in the life sciences.
I also want to acknowledge the presence of the members of the University of Kansas Medical Center’s Advancement Board. These community leaders work to advocate for and advance the mission of the medical center. We are glad they could join us for this announcement.
It was just over a year ago that I announced that the Number One priority of the University of Kansas would be the development of a world class cancer center. That priority reflected the many strengths KU brings to the fight to end suffering and death from cancer.
Like so many others I have had my own cancer journey. My prostate cancer was diagnosed early—as a result of a regular physical and the use of a common test that led my doctors to investigate further. I received excellent care and have fully recovered—but I have gained a new appreciation for any technology that leads to the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer. This is just one of many reasons I am excited to partner with Oncimmune in its groundbreaking work to save lives and fight disease.
The Cancer Center team at KU is strong and growing. Dr. Barbara Atkinson, the Executive Vice Chancellor, has literally written the book used by pathologists all over the world to diagnose cancer. She recruited Kansas native Dr. Roy Jensen to lead the center and Dr. Jensen in turn has recruited Dr. Scott Weir to head up the drug discovery and development office and Dr. Karen Kelly, another Kansas native and renowned lung cancer expert, to serve as the center’s deputy director. These talented individuals augment a very impressive array of cancer experts already doing leading-edge work at KU. I am proud of all that these immensely talented people are doing to help us achieve our goal—and I know they are proud to have your support.
Governor Sebelius’ leadership has been essential in advancing our goal. She came to this campus almost a year ago to announce that she would be including an additional $5 million dollars in her budget to support the development of the KU Cancer Center. The Legislature embraced that proposal and those dollars are already starting to pay dividends.
Governor, I know that you have a few other things on your mind today but you honor us with your presence. Your leadership has made many great things possible for our university and for the citizens of Kansas. We are proud of your efforts to build meaningful partnerships to benefit our state and KU and to advance our region’s life sciences agenda.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the Governor of the Great State of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius.
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