Martin Foundation
gives $400,000 to Arizona Cancer Center to
Establish Skin Cancer
Institute
Oct. 27, 2005
From: Donna
Breckenridge, (520) 626-2277
Or Susan Guthrie (602)
631-6555
The Bert
W. Martin Foundation has provided a two-year, $400,000 gift to the
Arizona
Cancer Center to establish a Skin Cancer
Institute. The institute will link skin cancer-focused clinical, educational,
outreach and research endeavors through a single organization to promote better
skin cancer treatment, research and prevention for the state of Arizona.
Robin Harris, PhD,
MPH, associate
professor of public health, will oversee the planning and implementation of the
institute. Dr. Harris, whose research focuses on the epidemiology of skin
cancer, has more than 10 years experience in skin cancer prevention research.
"We're extremely grateful to the Martin
Foundation for the generous funding they have provided for this important
endeavor," said Dr. Harris. "The establishment of a Skin Cancer Institute will
ensure that Arizona researchers continue to identify
effective prevention and treatment of skin cancer. It also will enhance public
awareness about the dangers of acute and chronic sun exposure, which is
especially crucial for children and adolescents."
A portion of the gift will be used for
health education outreach to expand the Arizona Cancer Center's statewide skin cancer education
efforts. A behavioral scientist and health educator will collaborate with other
skin cancer prevention agencies to implement and evaluate skin cancer prevention
education programs in schools.
The gift also is funding the development of
a Pigmented Lesion Clinic at the UA Section of Dermatology, the first such
program in the state. Adolescents and adults with an increased number of benign
and atypical melanocytic lesions, and therefore at high risk of developing
melanoma, receive a comprehensive evaluation. For individuals with complex
melanocytic lesion phenotypes, long-term follow up is performed using total-body
digital photography. Clara Curiel,
MD, an assistant professor of dermatology and member of the
Arizona
Cancer Center, is leading the clinical efforts.
"The Arizona Cancer Center has been conducting federally
funded skin cancer prevention research for 25 years," said Arizona Cancer Center
Director David S. Alberts, MD.
Currently, the National Cancer Institute has awarded Arizona Cancer Center investigators more than $21 million
for research on the basic mechanisms of skin carcinogenesis and the development
of novel drugs that can be applied directly to the skin to prevent the formation
of both melanoma and squamous cell cancers of the skin.
"This gift allows us the opportunity to
provide the structure needed to enhance collaborations among community and
university providers, educators and researchers, which will enable the
Arizona
Cancer Center to move forward to become the
premier center for reducing the impact of skin cancer," Dr. Alberts said.
Other faculty members of the development
team for the Institute include Tim Bowden, PhD; Janet Foote, PhD; Alan Levin,
MD; Lois Loescher, PhD, RN; Naja McKenzie, PhD, RN, project director; Jesse
Nodora, DrPH; and Steve Stratton, PhD.
The Martin Foundation is named for
Chicago
industrialist and philanthropist Bert W. Martin. Headquartered in Orlando, Fla., the Bert W.
Martin Foundation has been a generous supporter of pediatric health care, the
Arnold
Palmer Hospital for Children and Women and a
variety of educational programs and initiatives.
The Arizona Cancer Center
is Arizona's
first National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. With
primary locations at The University of Arizona in Tucson and the Virginia Piper Cancer
Center in Scottsdale, the Center has
more than a dozen research and education offices distributed throughout the
state. The Center's mission is to prevent and cure cancer through patient care,
research and education. For more information, please see: www.azcc.arizona.edu.
# # #
Susan
Guthrie
Senior Public Affairs
Coordinator
University of Arizona, College of Medicine - Phoenix
4001 N. Third
Street, Suite
401
Phoenix, Arizona 85012
602-631-6555 (office) 480-241-7738
(cell)
sguthrie@email.arizona.edu
www.phoenix.arizona.edu
To read about the
expansion of the UA College of Medicine in Phoenix go to http://www.phoenix.medicine.arizona.edu/About/News/Campus/