The Mitchell Cancer Institute in Mobile, Alabama is a joint venture between the University of South Alabama (USA) and the Mobile Infirmary Medical Center.  Although not involved in the first phases of design, I was brought in at a critical (and unusual) point to complete the project: Construction had just started, and steel was starting to be placed for the frame of the building.  However, the institute had also just received a very generous gift of $22 million dollars, and were quickly trying to determine how they could best use this incredible gift.  The institute decided to completely update their major medical equipment, and I was faced with the redesign of the entire treatment center from “relocated equipment” to implementing some of the most advanced cancer treatment equipment that money could buy.  The entire construction sequence of the building process had to be reworked, and the focus of construction shifted from the medical treatment portion of the facility to the research laboratory, which had less changes involved to the equipment design.  To say we were “behind from the (re-)start” is an understatement as materials had been ordered, man-power was in place, and this facility was coming out of the ground quickly.  The complexities of the laboratory and the clean, modern design, intricate mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, and a client trying to determine how to best spend these new funds added to the hectic mix, but the team pulled it out and a state-of-the-art facility now exists in Mobile dedicated to the study of prevention and treatment of cancer… [more photos]

The new equipment implemented included complex and relatively new systems or technologies, such as Accuray’s CyberKnife Robotic Radio Surgery system, Tomotherapy Hi-Art system, and Varian’s HDR (High Dose Rate) Brachytherapy unit.

Visit the website for the USA Mitchell Cancer Institute.

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