The new building will unite under one roof what is currently still spread over six buildings in Neuenheimer Feld: rooms for diagnostics and treatment of children and adolescents with cancer, as well as facilities for excellent research whose promising results can be directly incorporated into patient treatment. The pioneering center is being built next to the pediatric, gynecological and dermatological clinics near the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) in Heidelberg. It will contain 24 full in-patient beds, an out-patient clinic, a day clinic with twelve beds, and research areas on a floor space of around 6,900 square meters.
"This innovative new building will once again set new standards in Baden-Württemberg in internationally recognized research and dedicated patient care. We are extremely grateful to the donors for creating the conditions for this," said Minister President Winfried Kretschmann. The state is providing the building land to further strengthen Heidelberg as a medical center. The research results would not only help children and adolescents in the area, but young patients worldwide, Kretschmann said. "My goal is to make Baden-Württemberg a leading international healthcare location in the 21st century - and Heidelberg plays an important role in this. That is why a lot of money is flowing into this location from the state. In Heidelberg University Hospital alone, we have invested a high, triple-digit million sum in the last ten years."
The builder of the new KiTZ home is the Hopp und ODWIN Projekte gGmbH, which was founded by the project's largest donors specifically for this purpose. Gerda Tschira's ODWIN gGmbH and Dietmar Hopp Stiftung gGmbH are covering the majority of the 85 million euros in construction costs. Other supporters include BILD hilft e.V. Ein Herz für Kinder and Mannheim-based entrepreneur Dr. Manfred Fuchs.
Founder Dietmar Hopp thanked the Minister President for his support of the project and emphasized the good cooperation with ministries and authorities involved. He said it was thanks to them that the groundbreaking ceremony took place as scheduled. "I am pleased that today we can open a new chapter in the fight against childhood cancer. The new building will be the only one of its kind in Germany, providing the best conditions for treating young patients and enabling excellent research to increase their chances of recovery," said Dietmar Hopp.
Gerda Tschira concurred: "I'm delighted that the affected children will soon be able to receive very individualized help." The benefactor pointed out the special character of the new building. In addition to research and treatment, she said, it is also important to create an environment for patients and their relatives in which they feel comfortable. "It is important that the sick children can have their parents and siblings with them for support, in very beautiful, thoroughly comfortable and at the same time highly modern and medically functional rooms," Gerda Tschira emphasized.
"We are very grateful to the supporters for their extraordinary financial commitment," said Ursula Weyrich, Commercial Director of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). "It enables us to jointly build a facility in Heidelberg that is modeled on outstanding international examples. Here, excellent scientists and physicians from Heidelberg University Hospital and the DKFZ will work side by side. In this way, we want to ensure that research results quickly find their way from the laboratory bench to the bedside - and that questions that arise in the clinic can be directly reflected back to science. With the new building, the donors are creating an environment in which patients, parents and employees will feel comfortable," says Weyrich.
Professor Dr. Ingo Autenrieth, Chairman of the Board of Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD), referred to the great expertise in the research and treatment of cancer in Heidelberg: "With the founding of the National Center for Tumor Diseases in Heidelberg in 2004, the University Hospital, together with the German Cancer Research Center and German Cancer Aid, has set new standards in the care of cancer patients." Increasingly, he said, it is now possible to achieve a chronic course in cancer and improve patients' quality of life. "And what has proven successful in the care of adults is being applied at KiTZ for children with cancer," Autenrieth said.
KiTZ Director Professor Dr. Andreas Kulozik, Medical Director of the Clinic for Oncology, Hematology, Immunology and Pulmonology at the UKHD and Head of the Clinical Cooperation Unit Pediatric Leukemia at the DKFZ, explained why this is so important on behalf of the three KiTZ directors: "Around 2,000 children are diagnosed with cancer in Germany every year. The treatment of children with cancer has different requirements than for adults. The close link between research and patient care at the KiTZ will enable new therapies to be developed. In the new building, we will have the best conditions to apply promising research approaches to patient care, from diagnosis to treatment and aftercare."
Visible in the picture, from left to right: Bernhard Eitel (Rector of Heidelberg University), Katrin Erk (Commercial Director Heidelberg University Hospital), Ingo Autenrieth (Medical Director Heidelberg University Hospital), Eckart Würzen (Mayor), Ursula Weyrich (Commercial Director German Cancer Research Center), Manfred Fuchs (Donor), Theresia Bauer (Baden-Württemberg State Minister for Science, Research and the Arts), Stefan Pfister (Director KiTZ), Gerda Tschira (Donor), Winfried Kretschmann (Prime Minister), Dietmar Hopp (Donor), Sarah Majorzyk (1st Chair of the Board of "BILD hilft e.V.), Andreas Kulozik (Director KiTZ), Hanno Chef-Hendriks (Architect, Heinle Wischer).
