Jack Morris. –
Someone in New Jersey will receive a cancer diagnosis today.
You know this person. My wife, Sheryl, and I certainly do. At various times, this individual has been a family member, a dear friend, a child’s classmate, a trusted colleague.
Cancer unfortunately touches each of our lives, especially here in New Jersey, our nation’s most densely populated state. According to 2021 data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, our state unfortunately registers the country’s fifth-highest rate of new cancer cases.
Cancer takes many forms and affects patients in any number of ways. No two people will undertake identical journeys; however, one reality remains universal: Our loved ones must benefit from the best services imaginable, delivered as quickly, efficiently and effectively as possible.
A human response, of course. Turns out, science validates our compassion.
Proximity and access to care matter.
A December 2015 article in the journal The Oncologist — “Distance as a Barrier to Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment” — determined that increased travel to care options for cancer patients correlates with poor prognosis, decreased quality of life, inadequate treatment and a more advanced progression of the disease when first diagnosed.
Similarly, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center published findings in the American Medical Association’s May-2024 JAMA Network Open suggesting that physical distance from a screening and treatment site elevates the chances for a late-stage diagnosis.
To put it simply, proximity and access to cancer care matter.
For this reason, Sheryl and I have joined with New Jersey’s foremost scholars, practitioners and administrators to build the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center to give New Jersey families state-of-the-art care right here at home. As a husband, as a father, as the founding chair of RWJBarnabas Health system and as the current chair of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, I have complete confidence our investment with these partners will have a far-reaching impact.
It cannot be said enough: Proximity and access to cancer care matter.
New Jersey owns a reputation as a leader in the health space. We house an enviable network of hospitals and universities, along with pharmaceutical and biotech firms engaged in cutting-edge interventions. With respect to cancer, we already operate at a high level.
Earlier this year, the National Cancer Institute redesignated the Rutgers Cancer Institute, together with RWJBarnabas Health, as a Comprehensive Cancer Center. The Rutgers Cancer Institute earned this honor through years of unyielding focus and a commitment to excellence in research and application. As a result of this redesignation, our Cancer Center is one of only 57 such distinctions granted throughout the U.S. and the only one here in New Jersey.
In 2025, our state will take an even more promising step into the future. Here in the Hub City, a brand new $750 million, 12-story, 510,000-square-foot facility will open its doors and serve as New Jersey’s first and only freestanding cancer hospital.
Presently under construction in New Brunswick and almost near completion, the facility will further leverage the intellectual and clinical assets of the Rutgers Cancer Institute and RWJBarnabas Health. By bringing every facet of an oncology portfolio under one roof, we will enhance the potential for breakthroughs, while refining the model of cancer care, one for replication by peer entities around the world.
Most importantly, the Cancer Center will improve the experience for New Jersey’s families, from the promotion of human centeredness to heightened coordination among providers to timely access to evidence-based care, features recommended and necessary for high-performing health systems.
A range of questions accompany a cancer diagnosis for a parent, a spouse, a young person just starting out in the world. Uncertainty regarding where one can find optimal treatment should not be one of them.
Until we can lift entirely the burden of this horrible disease, we at least can lighten the burden on New Jersey’s families by offering the highest degree of care within our home state.
Jack Morris and his wife, Sheryl, are the name donors of the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center.
