Photo by Derek Redd The Most Rev. Mark Brennan, Bishop of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese, right, speaks Friday at the announcement of a $10 million donation to name the new WVU Medicine regional cancer center the WVU Cancer Institute St. Joseph Regional Cancer Complex.

A $10 million donation from the Wheeling Hospital Foundation has given the upcoming WVU Medicine regional cancer center its name — the WVU Cancer Institute St. Joseph Regional Cancer Complex.

Officials from WVU Medicine and the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston gathered at the entrance of WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital on Friday morning for the announcement.

“Our hope is that this new regional cancer complex will continue to serve the needs of our market for generations to come, and be a beacon of hope for many in our region,” said WVU Medicine Northern Region President Douglass Harrison, “and that they can continue to receive outstanding cancer treatments at a very local level.”

The $10 million is the leading donation of what will be a $122 million investment in a regional cancer complex at the site of the former Ohio Valley Medical Center campus. The complex has an anticipated completion date of October 2028 and will be a four-story, 127,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility consolidating cancer services at WVU Medicine Wheeling and Reynolds Memorial hospitals. It will include infusion therapy, radiation oncology, imaging, labs, specialty clinics, and space for future expansion.

The Most Rev. Mark Brennan, Bishop of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese, said St. Joseph has several important connections. He is the patron saint of the Catholic Church, the diocese itself as well as the cathedral in Wheeling. The Sisters of St. Joseph were integral in Wheeling Hospital’s 175-year history.

The donation comes from the Wheeling Hospital Foundation, a joint venture of WVU Medicine and the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese. The money, Brennan said, was generated from revenue gathered when WVU Medicine bought Wheeling Hospital’s equipment from the diocese, as well as from the lease WVU Medicine has with the diocese, which still owns the hospital’s building and land.

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