By Gregory Childress

gchildress@heraldsun.com; 918-1046

CHAPEL HILL — On a perfect North Carolina day, under a sky scientifically verified by UNC Hospital Chief Bill Roper as “Carolina blue,” UNC formally opened its cutting-edge $207 million N.C. Cancer Hospital, which hospital, university and state leaders said will place UNC in the forefront of the fight against a scourge that kills 500,000 people a year.

The 315,000-square-foot research and treatment facility, which is three times larger than the old, crowded Gravely building that previously housed the hospital’s cancer center, has 50 beds —15 more than what was previously available.

“I’m really glad I live in a state that does things like this,” said Sen. Majority leader Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, to applause. “This is really a special day for the people of North Carolina as we celebrate the dedication of this facility, a facility to be used to change the human condition.”

Rand was among a distinguished group of state leaders, including Gov. Beverly Perdue, who spoke at the ceremony attended by several hundred people.

Perdue said she dressed in a red blazer to honor former N.C. State women’s basketball coach Kay Yow, who died in January after losing a battle with cancer,

“And I thought, would she not have loved to have been here today,” Perdue said.

She added that the new facility signals a positive turn in the right direction for a state wanting to give its residents the best in terms of cancer treatment and research.

“How many of us have gone over to the other facility and thought, ‘Wow, our people deserve better than this’?” Perdue asked. “Research and the teaching was dynamic, even in an outdated and antiquated facility, but we all wanted more for our people.”

House Speaker Joe Hackney, D-Orange, said the new facility marries some of the things North Carolina prizes most: Higher education, research, health and biotechnology.

“It’s all here, brought together in this wonderful facility,” Hackney said. “We’re hoping that together we can stamp out this merciless disease that has hurt us all at one time.”

Hackney added that the new hospital will allow cancer patients to be treated with the dignity that they deserve. He also stressed that the hospital, while in Chapel Hill, belongs to everyone in the state.

“And the research, if done here, will belong to everyone in the world,” Hackney said.

Three cancer survivors treated at the old Gravely building, who are among the subjects of a striking 60-person photo exhibit titled “The New Faces of Cancer Care,” displayed in the hospital’s lobby, were invited to help cut the ribbon at the end of the dedication ceremony.

One of them, Kenneth Harris, 56, of Hertford, who was treated there for prostate cancer, said the new facility is impressive and better suited for battling cancer.

“It has a great atmosphere,” he said. “It does not feel like you’re in a hospital. It’s kind of like you’re at a jazz concert, very relaxing.”

But more important than the building, are the people working there, Harris said.

“Buildings are great, but it’s the professional people working here who make it a great place,” Harris said. “They have a great staff here.”

Richard M. Goldberg, physician-in-chief of the Cancer Hospital recalled the groundbreaking ceremony for the new hospital.

“At this hospital’s groundbreaking four years ago, Sen. Jeanne Lucas [Lucas died of cancer in 2007] began her remarks by asking the crowd ‘Don’t I look marvelous?’ ” Goldberg recounted. “Today, echoing those words, I ask you, ‘[Doesn’t] the North Carolina Cancer Hospital look marvelous?’”