By: Hellen Zaboulani
The new Brooklyn Cancer Center has opened for business at 86 Fleet St. in Downtown Brooklyn.
As reported by Crain’s NY, the center is expected to bring relief to borough residents, who previously had to travel to Manhattan for treatment and to participate in cancer clinical trials. The center was opened in a collaboration between New York Cancer & Blood Specialists, which is one of the leading oncology practices in the country, and the Brooklyn Hospital Center. “This partnership means the very best comprehensive care for cancer patients is available right here in Brooklyn,” said Gary Terrinoni, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Hospital Center, the independent community hospital in Fort Greene. “We say this a lot—you don’t have to go across the bridge for excellent care—but that statement has never been more true when it comes to the complete range of services The Brooklyn Cancer Center offers, now in a spectacular setting, just a few blocks from the hospital,” he added.
The 10,000-square-foot facility cost an estimated $5 million to build, said a Brooklyn Hospital Center spokeswoman. The center will have a staff of six or more physicians, providing services to patients with a wide variety of cancer and blood disorders. Top-ranked physicians tapped for the center include Chief of Hematology/Oncology Maxim Shulimovich, MD, Asmat Ullah, MD, Shahzaib Nabi, MD, Shreya P. Goyal, MD, Minh-Phuong Huynh-Le, MD, and Kalimullah Quadri, MD. As per Crain’s, the agreement states that physicians and administration will become employees of the blood center, although they will continue to work at the hospital’s facilities. Brooklyn Hospital will pay NYCBS- the oncology company- a management fee for staffing the facilities.
The cancer center had originally been planned for 523 Fulton Avenue, with an estimated open date set for the fourth quarter of 2020, when the pandemic interrupted. Dr. Jeff Vacirca, chief executive at New York Cancer & Blood Specialists, told Crain’s in 2020 that the cancer center will help patients to get imaging and infusions done outside of the hospital. They expect to provide quicker turnaround times for lab tests, and other improvement, thanks to NYCBS’ experience managing oncology practices, he added. “NYCBS has bridged the gap for patients to receive high-quality cancer treatment close to home,” said Dr. Vacirca. “The Brooklyn Cancer Center will bring state-of-the-art facilities, increased capacity, and the architectural atmosphere aligns with our world-class care.”
NYCBS has roughly 115 doctors across New York and New Jersey. It joined to become part of the national management group OneOncology in 2018. The company received a $200 million investment from private-equity firm General Atlantic, which it used to combine several of the community cancer practices. “New York Cancer & Blood Specialists (NYCBS) works tirelessly to provide focused, whole-person care for patients at its 20 locations throughout New York City and Long Island,” says the COA Patient Advocacy Network website. “With an extensive team of oncologists, nutritionists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and more, NYCBS is uniquely equipped to provide high-quality care and support for patients.”
