BOSTON, Mass. — Construction is officially underway in Boston’s Longwood Medical Area on a new hospital devoted entirely to cancer patients, after Dana-Farber Cancer Institute held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for the Lavine Bekenstein Cancer Hospital.
The building will rise on Brookline Avenue, on the land once occupied by the Joslin Diabetes Center. Plans call for a 450,000-square-foot hospital with 300 inpatient beds spread over 10 floors.
When it opens, it will be the only inpatient hospital in the region set aside solely for cancer care. The design centers on the needs of people with cancer and the relatives who support them, and the clinical space is meant to be flexible so it can change as treatments and research move forward.
Location is a big part of the plan. Sitting next to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Dana-Farber’s longtime clinical partner, the new building is meant to tie together outpatient visits, hospital stays and lab work on one connected campus, so findings from researchers can reach patients faster.
Gov. Maura Healey and Mayor Michelle Wu joined hospital leaders, doctors, researchers, patients and donors at the ceremony. Both cast the project as a sign that Boston and the state will keep their place at the front of cancer research and treatment.
The project is backed by a joint gift from two philanthropic families, which the institute describes as the largest single gift in its history. Dana-Farber did not give an opening date in its announcement.
Filed under: Boston MA Health News