Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center name will cover additional locations

Area residents are accustomed to seeing the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center name on Omaha's Midtown skyline, but it will soon appear in three additional locations, including a new cancer center slated to open in December in Kearney, Nebraska.

The locations that will carry the name are the Nebraska Medicine Fred & Pamela Cancer Center-Village Pointe Health Center; Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center-Bellevue Medical Center, and the Nebraska Medicine Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center-Kearney.

Nebraska Medicine officials said the expanded network will make the care offered at the cancer center closer to home for urban, suburban and rural residents. It also will allow for more collaboration between researchers and clinical cancer specialists, opening the door to faster breakthroughs.

The $52 million cancer center project in Kearney is an expansion of the partnership between Nebraska Medicine and Heartland Hematology and Oncology, which began in December of 2021.

Services offered at the new cancer center, which will measure more than 53,000 square feet, will include medical oncology, radiation oncology, lab, pharmacy, infusion, survivorship programs, genetics counseling and a healing garden.

"We believe our patients do best when they receive care close to home, family and friends," Dr. Cynthia Lewis, Nebraska Medicine hematologist/oncologist and medical director for clinic and infusion at Heartland Hematology and Oncology in Kearney, said in a statement. "Being able to treat them close to home is essential."

Cancer care, research and education will continue at the Buffett Cancer Center in Omaha in partnership with the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The cancer center, which opened in 2017, is the only cancer center in the state designated by the National Cancer Institute, and one of 72 designated centers nationwide.

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