The Mayo Clinic has been expanding its Jacksonville campus since Gianrico Farrugia became CEO in 2015.
Two buildings that will play a key role in enhancing Mayo’s status as a “destination medical center” are now virtually complete, according to our Florida Times-Union news partner.
The five-story, 190,000-square-foot Mangurian Building, which will serve as a state-of-the-art treatment center for oncology, hematology, neurology and neurosurgery, is having a dedication ceremony Thursday. Treatment of patients in the building will begin Aug. 6.
The Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Foundation in Fort Lauderdale donated $20 million to Mayo to help construct the building, which will cost about $100 million.
Two floors of the Mangurian Building are devoted to oncology and hematology. They feature a total of 43 rooms for chemotherapy infusion, doubling the previous number. Some rooms feature beds, others feature massage chairs. All have space for family members and big screen TVs.
There is a long, wide hallway on the fourth floor where neurology patients with tremor or gait disorders can be video recorded as they walk the hall. In the past, the close quarters on the neurology floor meant they often had to stop recording to let patients and staff walk by.
In the first floor lobby, there is a panel of a blue Brazilian stone called sodalite, which is reported to have healing properties, promoting peace and tranquility. Patients who have a completed a chemotherapy session will be encouraged to touch the sodalite and then ring a bell that will be located near it.
Next door to the Mangurian Building is the one-story positron emission tomography (PET) radiochemistry building, built at a cost of $10 million, including $1.5 million for the cyclotron it houses. The cyclotron is a particle accelerator, which produces radioactive pharmaceuticals. It will manufacture a wide variety of PET radiopharmaceuticals, which can help doctors create accurate images of tumors and other abnormalities.
Currently the facility is operational but it is still in the process of gaining approval from the Food and Drug Administration to use radiopharmaceuticals in treating patients. Both the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and the Mayo Clinic in Arizona have FDA approval to use radiopharmaceuticals on patients.
Once FDA approval is obtained, the cyclotron will produce four FDA approved PET radiopharmaceuticals.
