Beneficiary

Proceeds from Treads & Threads 2026 will support a new global destination cancer center building for transformational cancer research and patient care at The University of Kansas Cancer Center. The cancer center is the region’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center.

Our new cancer center building will transform cancer care and research. We want to save lives and change lives through advanced research and therapies not available anywhere else. And we want to do it right here in Kansas. We envision a hub for world-class patient care and cancer research, making The University of Kansas Cancer Center a global destination and a beacon of hope for the cure to all cancers.

• The flagship clinical program will be hematologic malignancies and cellular therapy. What makes cellular therapy so unique is that it uses an individual's own cells to fight their specific cancer and with fewer side effects than traditional treatments. As cellular therapeutics expand to more cancer types, this facility will continue to serve more and more patients.
• Today, there are 7 approved cell and gene therapies. In the next 5 years, there will be many times more, and the number will only grow. We will be the epicenter of this new frontier in cancer treatment.
• These new treatments are not only more effective, but also less toxic to patients – allowing them to live with cancer in a way not previously possible.
• Patients also will have access to more innovative clinical trials and groundbreaking therapies developed here.

The new building will be located on the 39th and Rainbow campus, with construction slated to be completed by late fall 2027.

The University of Kansas Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute designated comprehensive cancer center in the region and 1 of fewer than 60 in the United States to receive this elite designation. NCI-designated cancer centers are recognized for pioneering the most groundbreaking advances in cancer treatment through scientific discovery and transformative patient care. It is the gold standard of excellence, awarded only to cancer centers with the deepest and broadest knowledge of cancer. Patients treated at an NCI-designated cancer center have a 25% greater chance of survival. Today, The University of Kansas Cancer Center’s clinical spaces and research facilities span Kansas and Missouri. We will continue to treat patients across the region in those community care centers. And at the same time, the new cancer center building will centralize world-class care and innovation.