WVU Medicine Cancer Center

Wheeling has long been a hub for medical care in West Virginia’s panhandle, serving residents of West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Anchored by WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital, the city plays a critical role in meeting the region’s healthcare needs. However, limited local access to specialized oncology services required many patients to travel significant distances for care, adding stress, cost, and barriers to treatment. Guided by a commitment to "Keeping Care Close to Home” and expand access to advanced cancer services throughout the Ohio River Valley, WVU Medicine acquired the shuttered Ohio Valley Medical Center campus and engaged SmithGroup to reimagine the 99-acre hilltop site as a comprehensive, future-ready outpatient cancer campus.

The new WVUM Cancer Institute St. Joseph's Regional Cancer Complex offers a full spectrum of advanced treatment and diagnostic services in a single, unified facility. The four-story, 122,000-gsf building houses medical and radiation oncology, infusion therapy, imaging, physical therapy, and specialty clinics. By co-locating these services, the facility minimizes patient travel between appointments and supports a more coordinated, efficient care experience.

The site’s natural slope shaped a design solution that maximizes operational efficiency while flooding key spaces with light and views—an important component of creating a calm, patient-centered experience. From its landmark position overlooking the valley, the WVUM Cancer Institute represents the next chapter in Wheeling’s legacy as a center for top-quality regional care.

The design is a deliberate shift from traditional clinical environments. Expansive windows provide abundant light that creates a bright, uplifting atmosphere anchored in patient wellbeing. Infusion bays occupy the perimeter of the fourth floor offering those patients healing views overlooking the river and surrounding community during treatments. Organized around a wood clad core element, stacked public spaces and waiting areas act as intuitive orientation points for patients and family members moving up and down through the building.

The overall interior draws inspiration from the region's landscape, expressed metaphorically as a "tree of healing" and represented in the wood core that rises through all four floors of the building. A corresponding nature-based color palette—earth, sky, and autumn foliage—differentiates each level, adding natural warmth and enhancing wayfinding, while the exterior building design promotes comfort using familiar architectural elements drawn from in and around Wheeling.

Departments are strategically stacked to streamline and improve the patient journey. A welcoming entry canopy leads to a concierge-style registration area, replacing the traditional waiting room with a more personalized and efficient check-in experience. The ground floor also houses radiation oncology, where the site’s 60-foot grade differential provides natural shielding for treatment equipment while allowing daylight into patient and staff spaces. Diagnostic imaging is located on the second floor, where the grade change allows direct exterior access for mobile MRI units.

Specialty oncology clinics and a dedicated medical lab occupy the third floor, enabling blood draws and rapid processing before chemotherapy and significantly reducing patient wait times. Full-scale mockups and input from patient advisory boards informed the layout of the infusion bays on the fourth floor to ensure comfort, privacy, and ease of care. A pharmacy located within the infusion suite allows staff immediate access to chemotherapy medications, further improving coordination and reducing delays. Shell space at this level accommodates future offerings, including advanced CAR T therapy.

The WVUM Cancer Institute St. Joseph's Regional Cancer Complex establishes a modern, human-centered destination for comprehensive cancer care—bringing advanced treatment closer to home for communities across the tri-state region.