The Cancer Institute of New Jersey is partnering with Rutgers University and RWJBarnabas Health, an underwriter of NJTV News, to launch a cancer pavilion, a place where research and treatment will happen under one roof.

Fifty thousand people are diagnosed with cancer in New Jersey every year. A surprising fact shared Monday: New Jerseyans have less access to clinical trials than in other states, and that’s something they hope to correct at the pavilion.

“It’s a long history of having not made the investment to recruit what’s necessary to do medical research,” said RWJ Barnabas President and CEO Barry Ostrowsky. “So the anomaly of having a wealthy state, 9 million people, with the home of the pharmaceutical industry, but not have medical research, we think will be cured sometime over the course of the next five to 10 years.”

A billion dollars will be invested over the next 20 years to recruit investigators and researchers who will run clinical trials. The groundbreaking on the pavilion is slated for next spring.