The beginnings of Ellis Fischel can be traced back to 1931 when the Missouri State Medical Association created a committee on cancer.

Dr. Ellis Fischel, a leading St. Louis Oncologist, envisioned a statewide plan for the control of cancer, which included a State Cancer Hospital, equipped with the latest facilities for treatment, staffed by specially trained physicians, with provision for scientific investigation into the causes of the disease, and satellite diagnostic tumor clinics established around the state.

[1] Columbia was chosen as the site of the hospital because of the central location and the presence of the University of Missouri, a major cancer research center.

[2] The new Ellis Fischel Cancer Center is now connected to University of Missouri Hospital and takes up three floors of the Patient Care Tower Addition.

After Ellis Fischel Cancer Center moved in with University of Missouri Hospital, the building that it once occupied stood vacant for about two years.