Nevada Cancer Institute gives state the kind of credibility money can’t buy

The daily news trade is so full of coarse characters and dark themes that you sometimes forget there are beacons of goodness amid the crack and sizzle of our neon boomtown.

If you want the latest blood-soaked human misery, we've got the market cornered. If you're looking for a little light in the darkness, you won't always find it here.

The Nevada Cancer Institute is one of those beacons of hope. I was reminded of that fact Tuesday after listening to NVCI Chief Executive Officer Heather Murren and board member Dr. Ikram "Ike" Khan as they talked about the institute's rapid growth, great promise, and continuing funding needs.

You might think its two-part, $20 million legislative funding request -- $10 million for operating costs and $10 million for expansion -- would be a done deal given the institute's impressive success, but nothing is certain these days in Carson City. With calls for budget cuts and promises of no new taxes, Murren and Khan are taking nothing for granted.

The NVCI is doing its part in the private fundraising arena. It has raised more than $100 million. Not yet blessed with the enormous endowments and foundations that have helped make other institutions such as the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic household names in health care, it continues to rely on partial state funding to give its bottom line and its general credibility a boost.

The NVCI didn't even exist six years ago. It was recognized as the state's official cancer institute in 2002. Its building at 10000 W. Charleston Blvd. only opened in 2005. Since then it has served as an information resource and continues to expand in the areas of research, clinical trials, and patient care.

The NVCI boasts a staff of 230, including two dozen researchers and clinicians, at its 142,000-square-foot facility. It has assembled more than 400 volunteers, a number of them cancer survivors. It also has offices in Elko, Sparks and Fallon with a facility planned for the University of Nevada Medical School on the UNR campus.

The shining idea of Heather and Jim Murren and their friends has blossomed into a facility that promises to improve cancer treatment for all Nevadans and redefine the quality of medical care available in the state.

Along the way, it's giving hellbent, hedonistic Nevada something to be proud of. From a publicity standpoint, the creation and growth of the institute has given Nevada the kind of credibility money can't buy. Stories in publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal to Newsweek have sung the praises of the Murrens and their dream of bringing accurate information and quality cancer treatment and research to the Silver State.

If that makes it sound as if Nevadans have a chip on their shoulders when it comes to medical care, it should. For years residents with the means have been forced to go outside the state to find quality medical care for their serious illnesses. There might have been plenty of capable physicians in the state, but without a credible referral, it was almost impossible to contact the right physician in a timely manner.

The NVCI is helping to change that reality as it improves the image of the state as a medical wasteland.

A sound argument can be made that Nevadans, especially those with the fattest checkbooks, should be most responsible for the NVCI's prosperity, but there's little doubt the institute needs the state's help today.

Will Nevadans with the deepest pockets, the ones who have been giving to other cancer centers of excellence for decades, eventually embrace the home team?

It's to be hoped, and it will be interesting to watch.

Meanwhile, the NVCI set and reached its goal of raising $10 for every $1 it received in state funds. It has already raised more than $100 million from private and federal sources.

Given the Nevada Cancer Institutes' rapid growth and bright future, not to mention its substantial political contacts, it's hard to imagine the Legislature not embracing it by fully funding its program.

If the money helps Nevada's beacon of hope for cancer patients shine more brightly, then it will be money well spent.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0295.