A $580M cancer center, built inside a hospital that can't stop

The situation

The Roslyn and Leonard Stoler Center for Advanced Medicine is a major expansion of the University of Maryland Medical Center, built directly onto a hospital that stays open throughout. It began as a 9-story tower for the Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center. After groundbreaking, leadership approved 5 more floors for acute medicine, adult and geriatric psychiatry, and traumatic brain and spine injury rehabilitation.

I joined in February 2023 as an owner's representative. I came straight from running my own construction company, so I arrived knowing how the contractor's side of the table works.

What I did

On the Stoler Center, I've been an owner-side co-lead and a main link among hospital leadership, clinical teams, architects, contractors and regulators. I've chaired the Facility Readiness Committee, which brings together everything needed to make a finished building usable: commissioning, life safety documentation, inspections, occupancy planning, staff readiness and turnover.

I also provide oversight and reporting for the medical center's annual capital portfolio. That work includes a $21M infrastructure program modernizing access control, surveillance, nurse call, pneumatic tube and public safety communication systems across about 2 million square feet, including Shock Trauma, the cancer center and the Children's Hospital. It also included a $5M pediatric behavioral health suite: 1,280 square feet with patient observation rooms and a group therapy room, built to meet strict safety and regulatory standards.

Where the new building tied into the existing hospital, I helped plan the construction activities inside it, kept the work within infection prevention guidelines and acted as a liaison between hospital staff and the general contractor.

I've also worked on parts of the hospital's data center during infrastructure projects, including outages and new fiber, electrical and rack work. Across all of this, I've built the routines that keep people aligned: dashboards, monthly forecasts, risk reviews and clear escalation paths.

What changed

I've tracked the budget of every project and program I've run at Maryland, and 92% came in on or under budget while hospital operations continued around the work.

The first phase of the Stoler Center is done, and the cancer program has moved into the new tower. Fit-out of more floors is under way, followed by new inpatient rehabilitation units. Adjacent projects continue too, including backfill work and a second phase of the cancer program that will more than double its clinical and research space.

What I took from it

Often the hardest part of this job is a conversation, not the construction. Clinical and operational teams ask for things they care about, and not everything fits the approved budget. I've had to go back to the people who will use a space, tell them no and explain why. A project stays on budget when someone is willing to have that conversation honestly and keep the relationship intact.