On this web site, you'll find links to resources available on the Internet, information on research being undertaken at the University of Massachusetts in Worcester, links to news stories about the struggle as well as information on how you can support research to bring the kinds of advances needed to conquer this underfunded disease.
Pancreatic cancer research lags behind the tremendous strides made in the fight against leukemia, breast cancer, and AIDS. Pancreatic cancer, the nation's 4th leading cancer killer, ranks just 11th in research funding from the National Cancer Institute. The NCI spent just $74.2 million to
fight pancreatic cancer in 2006. (Here's a spreadsheet detailing NCI spending.) As a result, the five-year survival rate is little changed in the past 30 years, while huge strides have been made in fighting other cancers.
Tomorrow we can do better. The new Cancer Research Center at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester has accepted the challenge of pancreatic cancer research and to use that research to help patients as soon as possible — with pancreatic cancer there is no time to wait. Dr. Dario Altieri, director of the center, is assembling an extraordinary research and medical team for the UMass Pancreas Program.
To speed their work, the
Pancreatic Cancer Alliance,
a group of volunteers who have been
affected by this devastating illness, has formed. We're current patients, caregivers, and medical professionals and we're family members and friends of those claimed by this terrible disease.

Site maintained by
Tom Cole. Questions, comments and suggestions: info@
pancreaticalliance.org