The American Cancer Society (ACS) has recognized that North Texas is home to some of the country's leading cancer research and awarded one of its prestigious institutional research grants to the Institute for Cancer Research at the University of North Texas Health Science Center.
According to ACS, the Institute's application for funding ranked second of the 26 new or competing renewals from many of the major cancer institutes in the United States. The UNT Health Science Center is the only North Texas institution to receive an ACS institutional research grant and one of only four in the state of Texas. The other three Texas recipients are Baylor College of Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and UT San Antonio Cancer Institute.
The institutional research grant provides $150,000 over a three-year period to fund junior faculty and their cancer-related projects, in such areas as basic science, translational and clinical research, prevention and control, early diagnosis and treatment, behavioral oncology research and educational programs. These start-up grants often later lead to additional funding at much higher levels by ACS, the federal government, and other sources.
"We are now recognized by our peers as an outstanding, new and developing Institute for Cancer Research," said Ronald H. Goldfarb, Ph.D., institute director and principal investigator on the grant. "This award validates that the cancer research we are conducting in North Texas is of the highest quality."
In addition to the UNT Health Science Center, other members of the cancer research grant consortium include the University of North Texas at Denton, Texas Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, and the University of Texas at Arlington and its Automation and Robotics Research Institute. Junior researchers at these partner institutions are eligible to apply to the Institute for Cancer Research for funding from the ACS grant.
"The American Cancer Society is the largest private funder of cancer-related research in the world. The U. S. government is the only larger source of cancer research funding," said Donna Rankin, executive director of the ACS Fort Worth metro unit. "We are extremely pleased to see that we are able to fund researchers who are working in our own backyard."
The Institute for Cancer Research was established in January 1999 to study all aspects of cancer, with a focus on cancer that spreads in the human body. The Institute contributes to new approaches for cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
ACS has funded over $2.3 billion in cancer research since 1946 when the program was first launched. Among these researchers are 30 Nobel Prize winners who received grant support from ACS early in their careers. Thirty-seven percent of every dollar given to ACS goes to fund this outstanding research program. In 1946, only 25 percent of cancer patients were alive five years after diagnosis. Today, almost 60 percent live longer than five years.
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The University of North Texas Health Science Center is composed of the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, the School of Public Health, and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. The center's six Institutes for Discovery conduct leading-edge research on select health issues, including vision, aging, cancer, heart disease, physical medicine, and public health. A 110-member physician group practice, The Physicians & Surgeons Medical Group, manages 190,000 Fort Worth-area patient visits yearly. The institution injects some $244.3 million into Tarrant County and Texas' economies annually. Media can access additional information by visiting the UNT Health Science Center website at www.hsc.unt.edu.
The American Cancer Society is the nationwide, community-based, voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy and service. For more information visit www.cancer.org or call 1-800-ACS-2345.
Media contacts: UNT Health Science CenterKristie Aylett, APR, (817) 735-2553 or pager 1-877-497-0714 OR Carroll Cole, (817) 735-5152 or pager 1-877-306-4299[email protected]
American Cancer SocietyLori Sundeen Soderbergh, (817) 737-9990, ext. 172
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