Dozens of City of Hope faculty and staff members, administrative leaders, supporters and graduate students dedicated the new Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for Cancer Immunotherapeutics & Tumor Immunology on Dec. 9, 2009.
Marking the center’s official opening, a ribbon-cutting ceremony followed comments from City of Hope leaders and dignitaries.
 Visitors gather to celebrate the official opening of the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center. (Photo by Fred Lee) |
Speakers included Michael A. Friedman, M.D., president, chief executive officer and Irell & Manella Cancer Center Director’s Distinguished Chair, Richard Jove, Ph.D., Beckman Research Institute director and holder of the Morgan and Helen Chu Director’s Chair, Andrew Raubitschek, M.D., chair of the Department of Cancer Immunotherapeutics and Tumor Immunology, John J. Rossi, Ph.D., Lidow Family Research Chair and dean of the Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences, and Ambassador George L. Argyros, chair of the board of the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation.
Attendees then toured the $87.9 million, gleaming, arc-shaped building, which boasts 120,000 square feet spread over five floors and a basement. High-tech facilities within the center include a radiopharmacy, where compounds are linked to radioactive molecules for use as therapies and for imaging of cancer cells, and a clean room for producing substances for use in clinical studies.
The building also hosts the Cabilly-Riggs Academic Center and City of Hope’s graduate school. Features include a teaching laboratory, classrooms and a 150-seat auditorium.
The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center will house faculty in cancer immunotherapeutics and tumor immunology, hematology, molecular pharmacology and molecular medicine.
A naming gift of $20 million from the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation in 2006 launched construction of the new building. Additional leadership gifts from Julia and Ambassador George Argyros, Orly and Shmuel Cabilly, Ph.D., The Harvey L. Miller Family Foundation, the National Office Products Industry and Jane and Arthur Riggs, Ph.D., as well as gifts from many other donors furthered the building’s completion.
