Hospitals Back Efforts for Regional Cancer Institute KANSAS CITY, KS (kcur) - Leaders of area hospitals are backing KU's efforts to become a National Cancer Institute. They say the designation would bring new research grants and clinical trials to the region. KCUR's Elana Gordon has more.

About ten C.E.O's from regional hospitals and research institutes signed on to an advisory board for the project this week. Gary Sherrer, the former Lieutenant Governor of Kansas, is chairman of the new board. He says the group's formation shows that area hospitals are willing to work together.

Sherrer: These people all have their own mission statements, their own boards of directors, some of them are even in competition with one another. So to get all those people to come together and sign an agreement and commit time, money, and expertise wasn't easy and it took a while. But anything worth doing generally isn't very easy and does take a while.

Sherrer says board members have agreed to promote KU's efforts and some will collaborate on research. KU says it plans to submit a National Cancer Institute application within the next three years.

Funding for health care coverage on KCUR has been provided by the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City.

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