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INOVA opening new research facility in Fairfax County

INOVA has picked the ExxonMobil campus as the site for its planned expansion in Fairfax.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe speaking at INOVA ExxonMobil campus as site for Inova center for personalized health

MERRIFIELD, Va. (WUSA9) -- INOVA made a game-changing announcement Monday morning in Fairfax.

The 117-acre site where ExxonMobil campus sits now will soon become a hub for world-leading genomic science and personalized medicine.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe spoke at the announcement. "I am proud to announce that INOVA and ExxonMobil have reached an agreement that they will sell this beautiful 117 acre campus to INOVA."

The announcement is much more than that: it's cause for celebration for those who have been working so long to make this happen. The site will be home to Inova Center for Personalized Health, which will be a global hub for world0-leading genomic science and personalized medicine.

According to Gov. McAuliffe, "Scientists will now come here for high paying jobs but then the research will commercialize it and the data analytics, this will spurt an entire new ecosystem of jobs in Virginia."

There's no word yet on how many jobs will be created but Gov. McAuliffe says it will be in the thousands. From there, the ripple effect multiplies.

"We will bring all new businesses here if you are now going to be in this health related field of human genome sequencing, you are going to put your business close to this," said McAuliffe.

No one knows the impact this kind of research can have more than Amy Button. Her son Zachary is one of 15 people in the world with a rare syndrome and doctors initially didn't think that he would make it.

"I'm just excited that other people are going to benefit. We would not have been where we are today without the doctors, the nurses and the genetics research that we've been part of," said Button.

Thanks to this research, Zachary can do much more of that. "He loves the drums and plays basketball," shared Button.

A $ 10 million donation was received from the Peterson Family Foundation to help recruit cancer specialists.

The land, which is located across the street from the hospital on Gallows Road, is expected to be handed over at the end of this year.

Exxon will be moving to Houston.

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