From 1974 to 1999, the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer barely changed, standing at 4 percent (click here for the data). In the same time period, the survival rate for prostate cancer climbed to 98 percent from 67 percent, for breast cancer to 87 percent from 75 percent, and for colorectal cancer to 62 percent from 50 percent. How can this be? Results follow research. For pancreatic cancer there's been far too little for far too long.
Money donated to the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund is set aside to be used solely to support research into pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Dario Altieri, chair of the Department of Cancer Biology and Director of the UMass Memorial Cancer Center at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, is the administrator of the funds.
Here's what the money is for:
Educational: To create and distribute both an educational poster for medical offices and public places and a package of materials for newly diagnosed patients for distribution to medical offices, libraries, and health agencies.
Tumor bank: To raise money to support the creation of the Pancreatic Gastrointestinal Tumor Bank at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The bank will give UMass researchers access to cancer tissue for research related to pancreatic and other gastrointestinal cancers. Need: $30,000 annually.
Postdoctoral fellowship: The fellowship will allow a junior Ph.D. to conduct pancreatic cancer research experiments under the supervision of a senior researcher. It will also stimulate interest in pancreatic cancer research. Need: $40,000 annually.
Gene-expression research: Direct funding of a research project to analyze DNA differences between normal and cancerous pancreatic tissue. This would build on the tumor bank. Need $50,000 annually.
Endowed position: To support the creation of an endowed position at the UMass Medical School dedicated to the fight against pancreatic cancer. Need: $1.5 million.
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