EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — A major investment in cancer treatment technology is headed to El Paso, with federal funding aimed at helping patients get advanced care closer to home.

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar presented a $1.031 million check to support a cancer-fighting linear accelerator, known as a LINAC, for Texas Tech Health El Paso’s future Fox Cancer Center.

The presentation took place at the Medical Science Building II, Auditorium C, on the Texas Tech Health El Paso campus.

Escobar was joined by Texas Tech Health El Paso leaders, including Dr. Richard Lange, president of Texas Tech Health El Paso; Dr. Eric Rohren, dean of the Foster School of Medicine; and Dr. Rajkumar Lakshmanaswamy, dean of the Francis Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

More than 3,200 El Paso County residents learn they have cancer each year. For many patients and families, a diagnosis has meant traveling hundreds of miles for advanced therapy. The $1.031 million in federal funding secured by Escobar is intended to help bring that level of treatment closer to home, officials with Texas Tech Health El Paso said.

A LINAC delivers precisely targeted, high-energy radiation to tumors while protecting surrounding healthy tissue. The technology is used for advanced techniques including intensity-modulated radiation therapy and stereotactic radiosurgery. Physicians are expected to discuss how the technology will benefit cancer patients across the West Texas region.

Texas Tech Health El Paso is building the Fox Cancer Center, a 356,000-square-foot, five-story facility at 300 Rick Francis St. The center is planned as the first comprehensive cancer care center in West Texas and on the U.S.-Mexico border, consolidating services under one roof including imaging, radiation, infusion, clinical trials and supportive care.

Texas Tech Health El Paso serves 108 counties in West Texas and was established as an independent university in 2013.

Over the past decade, it has graduated more than 2,600 professionals in medical, nursing, biomedical sciences and dental education.

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