The groundbreaking for the planned Fox Cancer Center at Texas Tech Health El Paso on Wednesday included many references to the team effort that made this a reality, the emotional and financial benefits to future patients – and a $5 million gift from the Hunt Family Foundation.
Joshua W. Hunt, president of the Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Foundation, said the gift will help the center provide the region’s residents with access to the best comprehensive care closer to home.
Additionally, it will attract more of the top doctors, researchers and caregivers, who will change the trajectory of cancer treatment in the Paso del Norte region, Hunt told a standing-room crowd of more than 500 who attended the event under a huge white tent. Among the attendees were leaders from health care, academic, business and political fields as well as cancer survivors and TTHEP staff, students and faculty.
“We see this not just as an investment in the facility, but as an investment in people, in patients and our families and in the future of our community’s health. We know that this effort cannot end here. It will take all of us – businesses, families, neighbors and friends – to come together and support this vision.”
The gift was the latest donation to the $50 million “Building Hope” campaign that includes $25 million from Steve and Nancy Fox and their family, and $5 million from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation. That money will be used to purchase the specialized equipment, parts of the construction, artwork and other details that will go in the five-story, 356,000-square-foot building at 300 Rick Francis St.
El Paso County voters also had skin in the game as they voted in November 2024 to approve $30 million for the cancer center as part of a $396.6 million bond issue for University Medical Center El Paso. The bond money is for construction and equipment. The state appropriated $130 million for the center over the past two legislative sessions in 2023 and 2025. The first $65 million was to go toward the center’s planning and construction.
Among the many cancer survivors in the audience was Robert Farmer, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2015. He described his ordeal that included radiation and remission before the cancer returned and necessitated trips to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Farmer, a Northeast El Pasoan, said his cancer journey was made worse because the support network of church, friends and family could not always be there for him and his wife, Dede.
“It was a struggle physically, emotionally and financially to go back and forth for treatment,” said Farmer, who added that he is cancer free today. “Having this cancer center here is going to be a blessing to people in the future.”
Cancer is a leading cause of death among U.S. Hispanics, but El Paso County, which is 83% Hispanic, is the state’s only urban area without a comprehensive cancer center. While current cancer patients are served by the likes of Texas Oncology, health care officials believe that the addition of the Fox Cancer Center will enhance patient care and outcomes.
The Fox Cancer Center and a planned Clinical Sciences Building, or CSB, will be built at the same time under the same roof using separate budgets. About one-third of the building – 131,000 square feet – will be for the cancer center. Its construction budget is about $156 million. The clinical sciences building is budgeted at $184 million. The funds for the CSB will come from the TTU System, legislative appropriations and gifts and institutional funds.
The complex will be on the north end of the campus near Interstate 10.
Steve Fox, CEO of Fox Auto Team, called the groundbreaking a culmination of a 20-year-old dream. The businessman and philanthropist survived stage 4 tongue and throat cancer. During the ceremony, TTHEP named him the unofficial “Chief Hope Officer” and presented him with a desk plate with his new title.
“I am so proud of our community,” said Fox, who was accompanied by his wife, Nancy, and members of his family. “It has been a communitywide effort. Everyone is on board. El Paso deserves and needs this.”
Rick Francis, executive chairman at WestStar Bank, served on the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents for 16 years through 2019. He said this groundbreaking ceremony signified how something transformative can happen when business, political, and community leaders and average citizens come together.
“This is just another step in our community creating a fundamental change in our health care paradigm,” he said.
Richard Lange, president of TTHEP, called the center the first comprehensive cancer center in West Texas for prevention, early detection, treatment, research and survivorship. It will mean that El Pasoans will not have to leave their families to get the care they need.
He said this was a day to celebrate the many partners who made this “historic” day possible. It included community philanthropists, state legislators, the University Medical Center leaders, and the “cancer warriors.”
“All of these together have brought the cancer center to fruition; not a single group,” Lange said. “We’re happy to be part of a community that sees a shared vision to make this happen and they’ve done it against all odds.”
He listed the teamwork that went into every step of the project to include the future efforts to acquire the state-of-the-art equipment for diagnosis and treatment, and to hire additional world-class cancer care providers from different specialties for the center, which should open in fall 2028.
“I can’t wait to be here for the grand opening,” said Lange, who expects the building to earn the National Cancer Institute designation that will allow the center to conduct clinical trials.
The TTHEP leader said that cuts to federal grants impact clinical trials, but millions of dollars from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, or CPRIT, and pharmaceutical planning grants can make up for some of it in cancer screenings and care of cancer patients, but more needs to be done.
“We, as a nation, need to continue to invest in cancer care and clinical trials to bring new therapies to individuals,” Lange said. “They dramatically change the survival-ship of people with cancer and we need to continue that.”
Tedd Mitchell, chancellor of the Texas Tech University System, who announced his plan to retire this summer, said that 40% of the people who live west of Interstate 35 go to Houston for cancer care. The other 60% chose not to get care or, if they are diagnosed or treated, get care that is not as aggressive simply because of the geography.
He said to get the cancer center, many stakeholders had to work together in the same direction and sometimes set their egos aside for the greater good. In this case, a lot of people will live healthier lives as a result.
“One of the things we say is that your longevity, your lifespan should not be dictated by your ZIP code,” Mitchell said. “There are way too many places in the western half of the state where that is oftentimes the case.”
TTU System Vice Chancellor for Facilities Planning and Construction Billy Breedlove said this project was his first cancer center and one of his most significant missions because he knew what it would mean for future cancer patients and their families.
“This will make a difference in the lives of people who are battling cancer,” Breedlove said.
The post Turning the soil: El Paso cancer center breaks ground appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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