A new $80 million cancer treatment facility at Allegheny General Hospital in the Northside is set to serve as the “nucleus” for greater cancer care throughout the region.

Photo courtesy of Highmark Health

The final steel beam for the Academic Cancer Center, a new $80 million facility set to open in the spring of 2020 at Allegheny General Hospital (AGH), was raised on July 11. Officials from Highmark Health and Allegheny Health Network (AHN) were present, along with representatives from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, to celebrate the occasion.

The 90,000-square-foot Academic Cancer Center is set to be, according to a press release, the “nucleus” of a $300 million investment made by Highmark Health and AHN for cancer services throughout western Pennsylvania, which includes additional cancer care centers in Butler County, Beaver County, and Monroeville.

According to the American Cancer Society, just this year, close to 80,000 new cancer cases are estimated to be diagnosed in Pennsylvania.

“At the AHN Cancer Institute, we are committed to helping patients and their families fight and win their cancer battle on every front…” said David Parda, MD, Chair of the AHN Cancer Institute. “With this new facility at AGH, we are enhancing the academic core of a cancer care model that now allows the vast majority of patients to be treated at the highest level in their own communities.”

The Academic Cancer Center will be located on East North Avenue, between the Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) South Tower and the parking garage on Sandusky Street. Two of the floors will be underground. There will be an atrium to preserve historic elements of the AGH South Tower and it will connect to the front rotunda entrance for easy street access.