October 13,
2005
For Immediate
Release
Contact:
Donna Breckenridge, Arizona Cancer Center,
520-626-2277
Meg Kondrich, American Cancer Society, Phoenix,
602-381-3092
Dr. Elena Martínez
receives American Cancer Society Professorship, a first for the state of
Arizona
María Elena Martínez,
M.P.H., Ph.D., co-director of the
Arizona Cancer Center’s Cancer Prevention and Control Program and
professor of epidemiology at the University of Arizona’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman College
of Public Health, has been awarded the prestigious American Cancer Society –
Richard H. Hollen Cancer Prevention Professorship. The professorship award,
endowed at $600,000, is a first for the state of Arizona.
Dr. Martínez’s proposal, “Development of a Program
to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening in Arizona,” was reviewed by the
American Cancer Society’s (ACS’s) Cancer Control and Prevention: Psychosocial
and Behavioral Research Committee and ranked as “outstanding.” This is the
highest ranking possible.
“This American Cancer Society
Professorship represents an outstanding feat for both Dr. Martinez and the
Arizona
Cancer Center. We are extremely proud of Dr.
Martinez’s wonderful academic accomplishments. The proposed project is highly
relevant to the cancer problem as it identifies an important area of need, and
if successful, will be a giant step toward the elimination of colorectal cancer
as a major health problem in Arizona,” said Arizona Cancer Center Director David
S. Alberts, M.D.
In close partnership with the Great West
Division of the ACS, Dr. Martínez and her team will develop a program focused on increasing
colorectal cancer screening rates in the state of Arizona. Their overall
goal is to increase the proportion of the Arizona population aged 50 years and older who
undergo colorectal cancer screening to 75 percent by 2010. To accomplish this, a
team of scientists, community leaders, and organizations from various
backgrounds will be assembled to help develop meaningful and important research
projects.
Dr. Martínez focuses much of her work on colorectal
cancer prevention and seeks to raise awareness of this growing epidemic in
Arizona.
Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of death among men and women over age 50
and is often preventable. Colorectal cancers and the lesions from which they
develop, colorectal adenomas, can be discovered through screening. However,
despite the fact that cancer deaths can be substantially reduced through
screening, physicians do not routinely recommend this to their patients, and
patient compliance to recommendations is low.
“The American Cancer Society is committed
to increasing screening rates for colorectal cancer, which has such a high
survival rate when diagnosed early. We are grateful to the Richard H. Hollen
family for this bequest and are confident that the work of Dr.
Martínez and the
Arizona
Cancer Center will have a significant impact in
our state,” said Denis Cournoyer, district executive director for the American
Cancer Society.
Dr. Martínez’s academic career at the University of Arizona began in 1996 when she accepted a faculty
position working under the direction of Dr. Alberts in the Arizona Cancer Center. She earned a B.S. degree in
nutrition from the University of
Illinois, Chicago, and she also holds a master of public health and a
doctoral degree in epidemiology from the University of Texas School of Public
Health in Houston. After completing her doctoral studies,
Dr. Martinez accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She also
received additional training as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of
Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
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, go to www.azcc.arizona.edu.
The American Cancer Society is dedicated to eliminating
cancer as a major health problem by saving lives, diminishing suffering and
preventing cancer through research, education, advocacy and service. For more
information on cancer, call 1-800-ACS-2345, available 24 hours a day, seven days
a week, or visit www.cancer.org.
###
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/