by Steve Brawner (BRAWNERSTEVE@MAC.COM)

A $50 million grant using national opioid settlement funds by Attorney General Tim Griffin will allow Arkansas Children’s Hospital to build the $70 million National Center for Opioid Research & Clinical Effectiveness (NCOR) on the hospital’s campus in Little Rock.

Griffin along with Children’s CEO Marcy Doderer announced the center and the grant at an event in front of the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute Thursday (Nov. 9). The Institute will add an initial investment of more than $20 million. Scientists will work closely with the Institute and Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center.

Construction on the 45,000-square-foot facility is expected to begin in late 2024. Griffin emphasized that NCOR will have its own building and research mission.

$50 million AG grant funding Arkansas Children’s opioid research center

Arkansas Children's
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin presents a check to Arkansas Children's CEO Marcy Doderer at an event Thursday at the hospital's main campus in Little Rock.

by Roby Brock (roby@talkbusiness.net)

Arkansas Children’s CEO Marcy Doderer said expansion plans in central and northwest Arkansas are being driven by different factors and she’s optimistic that new facilities can be in service by early 2026.

Over a week ago, Arkansas Children’s announced a $318 million expansion that will add up to 100 new doctors and 400 new support staff.

Appearing on this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics, Doderer said the hospital’s Springdale campus is feeling pressure from the population growth in the region.

“Arkansas Children’s Northwest (ACNW) just celebrated five years of being in existence. I can’t believe it’s gone that fast. It was built as a small community hospital knowing that we would probably steadily and readily have to expand it in order to meet the needs of that community,” she said. “As the population continues to really move up in northwest Arkansas, there are more kids demanding services from our state. What we’ve also found though, is being up there in that corner of Arkansas, we are attractive to families in eastern Oklahoma and southern Missouri, so we find it’s now time to expand our spaces at ACNW.”

https://talkbusiness.net/2023/05/arkansas-childrens-ceo-hopes-to-open-expanded-facilities-by-2026/