A piece of Pittsburgh is coming to the Mediterranean — in the form of a cancer center.
UPMC has broken ground on its Hillman Cancer Center in Croatia, approximately 25 miles from the country's capital city of Zagreb, according to a Dec. 22 news release. The new facility is anticipated to open in 2025 and will provide cancer care including advanced radiation oncology, medical oncology and PET-CT diagnostics.
The cancer center is in close proximity to neighboring Slovenia; Croatia is also bordered by Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. UPMC aims for the facility to provide care to these nearby countries' residents, too, according to the news release.
The project is five years in the making, as UPMC has spent half a decade working alongside Dragan Primorac, MD, PhD — founder and chair of Zagreb-based St. Catherine Specialty Hospital and Croatia's former minister of science and education — to identify the region's needs.
UPMC is also expanding in Ireland and Italy, the health system announced in 2023.