Blood Cancer Healing Center adds research labs and wellness suite

The University of Cincinnati Cancer Center’s Blood Cancer Healing Center has brought its full mission to life as a comprehensive blood cancer hub with the opening of research laboratories and the UC Osher Wellness Suite and Learning Kitchen. The addition of research and integrative health wellness services joins the building’s clinical services, which have been in operation since July 2024.

Patients, physicians, wellness educators, survivors, researchers and learners are now all under the same roof where they can inspire each other daily. The fourth floor of the building includes a new home for the Leukemia and Drug Development Lab (LDDL) and dedicated research spaces for industry partners and independent labs, fostering collaboration that aims to make research more efficient than ever before and bring life-saving treatments from the research bench to patients’ bedsides faster.

A clinical research director in the Cancer Center’s Leukemia and Drug Development Lab said joining clinicians and patients in the Blood Cancer Healing Center will accelerate the translation of findings to patients by making real-time decisions with cutting-edge science. A Cancer Center researcher and associate professor in the College of Medicine said the space will also serve as a key factor in the recruitment of talented researchers and physicians as the hematological malignancies program continues to expand.

The UC Osher Wellness Suite on the fifth floor is the only space of its kind in the region, offering personalized, hands-on well-being experiences in the John & Carrie Hayden Community Learning Kitchen, Mind-Body Spirit Wellness Studio and outdoor Rooftop Healing Garden. Community programming in the suite is scheduled to begin in March.

In addition to being deeply integrated into cancer care and survivorship, this space also supports individuals managing chronic conditions, navigating stress, burnout or fatigue or simply looking for practical, evidence-based ways to live healthier and prevent disease. The director of the Osher Center for Integrative Health said evidence-based approaches, such as nutrition, the arts, nature, mindfulness and movement as medicine, are integrated not only into comprehensive cancer care, but into everyday life.

The fourth and fifth floors are the newest additions to the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center, a collaboration between the University of Cincinnati, UC Health and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. The Cancer Center consists of more than 250 clinicians and researchers who aim to elevate cancer research and care standards across the Midwest region and beyond.