Top Stories in the News
Below are recent stories in the news about the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and the UPMC Cancer Centers. The links listed will take you to the original media articles. If you are unable to access an article, please email Clare Collins at collcx@upmc.edu for a copy of the story.
Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and National Association Name Area Hospitals as Blue Distinction Centers for Complex and Rare Cancers
Forbes.com, March 11, 2008 – Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield has named Allegheny General Hospital, UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside and UPMC Passavant as Blue Distinction Centers for Complex and Rare Cancers.
Blue Distinction Centers for Complex and Rare Cancers are facilities within participating Blue Cross and Blue Shield network service areas that offer comprehensive inpatient cancer care programs for adults.
Pitt Researchers Link Virus to Rare Type of Skin Cancer
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 23, 2008 – A newly discovered virus may play a role in the development of Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and lethal skin cancer that afflicts mainly the elderly and those with weak immune systems, according to a study in the latest edition of the journal Science.
"This is actually the beginning of a long process because there are so many things that can be done now that we have a target," said Patrick Moore, a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, in a telephone interview. "Within the next couple of years, I would hope there would be a test that would help diagnose infection with this virus and that we could target treatment against this virus."
Mellon Foundation: $23 Million for Child Health Institute
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 24, 2007 – Two days after giving Carnegie Mellon University $25 million, the Richard King Mellon Foundation today announced a separate $23 million gift to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
The officials who were in Oakland today for the announcement acknowledged that the Mellon gift is one of the largest ever for pediatric research anywhere in the country. University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, in recognizing the Mellon family for its longtime contributions to the area, noted that in the mid 1980s the same foundation provided $10 million toward the creation of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, now a key institution in Pittsburgh's drive to cure cancer.
Briefs: Restaurants Sets Cancer Center Fundraiser
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 24, 2007 – On Nov. 4, big Burrito Restaurant Group will donate 100 percent of its evening food sales to the Hillman Cancer Center for research and patient care.
The big Benefit kicks off at 5 p.m. and runs throughout the evening at Casbah, Eleven, Kaya, Soba and all nine Mad Mex locations.
Redpath’s Growth Spurs Move to Strip District
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 19, 2007 – Biotechnology firm RedPath Integrated Pathology Inc. will more than triple its office and laboratory space when it moves early next year from the North Side to a new headquarters in the Strip District.
The company’s PathFinder TG product is in use in more than 25 of the 50 or so major cancer centers in the United States, including the Hillman Cancer Center in Shadyside, Brady said. Community and regional hospitals and private physician practices are a target market.
Dr. Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, said experts at the institute’s Hillman Cancer Center have used the RedPath test and “have found it very predictive in helping us discriminate which pancreatic cancer patients need further surgical treatment.”
A Vital Cancer-Fighting Tool. Clinical Trials Make a Difference. A Pa. Bill Would Expand Insurance Coverage.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 19, 2007 – Each year, about 30,000 Pennsylvanians die from cancer. And while the overall trend of cancer mortalities and new cancer cases has been declining, the rates in Pennsylvania - and Philadelphia in particular - remain well above the national averages.
Our state is home to three of the nation’s 39 comprehensive cancer centers, a title that recognizes cancer centers with a strong research base that serves to benefit the prevention, care and education of cancer in the community, region and nation. The esteemed University of Pennsylvania, Fox Chase Cancer Center, and University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute are each recognized by the National Cancer Institute.
Brain Cancer Patients Could Survive Longer With New Treatment
The Pittsburgh Channel, October 18, 2007 – There is new hope for brain cancer patients with the poorest prognosis. Patients with a particularly deadly tumor could survive longer with a drug that chokes off a tumor’s blood supply.
At the Hillman Cancer Center in Shady Side, researchers are always trying to find ways to extend the lives of patients, and they think they have found a good way with a combination therapy.
A Crusader at Pitt Tells How Cancer Prevention was Stymied
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 5, 2007 – As the events marking National Breast Cancer Awareness Month begin this week, a new book by a University of Pittsburgh researcher has been garnering national attention with charges that America’s efforts to prevent cancer have been largely ignored for political and commercial reasons.
Medical science has down-played prevention in favor of a massive campaign to cure the disease, Devra Davis, director of Pitt’s Center for Environmental Oncology, says in her book, “The Secret History of the War on Cancer.”
Also reporting on story NPR.org, Telegram.com
’Driving’ to Support Skin Cancer Research
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 9, 2007 – There’s no sign in Beaver Falls that No. 13 will bring anything but more success in the battle against melanoma. The annual Grant Channell Memorial Golf Outing is named after a former lifeguard who died in 1994 from an unusually aggressive form of the skin cancer. He was 27.
The 13th yearly outing, is set Saturday at the Black Hawk Golf Course in Beaver Falls. Thanks to his wife, Lisa Channell Huntley, of Kennedy, his physician, Dr. John Kirkwood, and dozens of friends as well as strangers, the outings have raised $123,000.
The memorial foundation has sponsored free skin cancer screenings in Beaver, while the outing has supported ongoing research for the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute’s Melanoma and Skin Cancer Program headed by Dr. Kirkwood.
UPMC Plans Research Center in Historic Building
Pittsburgh Tribune Review, July 28, 2007 – The former Ford Motor Building in Shadyside may soon become a research center for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
UPMC is ranked among the top cancer programs in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report magazine. With more than $150 million in cancer research grants, the UPMC Cancer Centers and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute comprise one of the largest networks for cancer care and research in the nation.
Dr. Ronald Haberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Center, said approval of the funding would make the difference between a 200,000-square-foot and a 400,000-square-foot facility.
Also reporting on the story: Pittsburgh Business Times
From Industry Castoff to Potential Medicine – Scientists Turn to Old Chemicals for Cure for Melanoma, Other Cancers
The Boston Globe, July 16, 2007 – By poking through thousands of industrial chemicals, scientists report that they have found a new drug that, for the first time, improves the grim outlook for patients with the most dangerous form of skin cancer.
Although the research and clinical trials are still in early stages, preliminary data suggest that the new drug, called STA-4783, doubles patients’ survival time to 12 months, with very few side effects, said Safi Bahcall, president and chief executive of Synta Pharmaceuticals, a small biotechnology firm in Lexington that developed the drug. His company recently announced the results at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology in Chicago.
“The key thing will be to validate these early, significant results,” said Dr. John Kirkwood, a leading melanoma specialist at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.
2nd Annual Grant Channell Memorial Skin Cancer Screening
Pittsburghlive.com, July 16, 2007 – Physicians from UPMC Cancer Centers, the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and the University of Pittsburgh Physicians Department of Dermatology will perform free skin cancer screenings at this second annual event.
IThe event is open to the public on a first come, first served basis. Enjoy light refreshments and live music and take home some educational materials.
Scientists Coming to Region to Join Cancer Fight
Pittsburgh Tribune Review, May 8, 2007 – Sue Abbatiello left her job with a biopharmaceutical company in Massachusetts to work in a Shadyside laboratory because she believes Pittsburgh is the place to be to cure cancer.
Indeed, for scientists looking to cure cancer, the region appears to have the right ingredients.
"We're 11th right now in the amount of grant funding from the National Cancer Institute, and I'm quite confident that within the next year or two, we'll break into the top 10," said Dr. Ronald Herberman, director of Pitt's Cancer Institute and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Cancer Centers.
The Cure: Western Pa. Has Become an Important Player in the Fight to Stop Cancer
Pittsburgh Tribune Review, May 7, 2007 – It should have been the end.
Doctors in New York believed they did everything they could to help Dr. Harvey Herberman fight cancer. They told him last year to go home and die comfortably.
The Manhattan urologist wasn't ready to give up -- nor was his only brother, one of the nation's top cancer researchers who has directed the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute since its founding in 1984.
Wine Festival Goes Smoothly, Receipts Increase
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 3, 2007 – This year, the on-site take -- bottles sold at Heinz Field, where the PLCB set up banks of cash registers -- was $98,000, $7,000 better than the final sales figures from the 2006 festival.
This year's festival events raised more than $230,000 for the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and Magee Womens Hospital Foundation, plus $1 million for the Stanley M. Marks, M.D. Endowed Research Fund.
Pittsburgh Wine Festival will Feature Dinners, Seminars, Tastings
Pittsburgh Tribune Review, April 18, 2007 – The fifth annual Pittsburgh Wine Festival will begin Saturday with former White House chef Walter Scheib preparing a gourmet meal at The Carlton Restaurant, Downtown, and will wrap up with an informative cocktail buffet in Lawrenceville on April 27, sponsored by Slow Food Pittsburgh.
The festival is presented by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and Comcast. Proceeds benefit the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.
Bringing Cancer to the Dinner Table: Breast Cancer Cells Grow Under Influence of Fish Flesh
Scientific American.com, April 17, 2007 – Tests of river fish indicate their flesh carries enough estrogen-mimicking chemicals to cause breast cancer cells to grow.
Many streams, rivers and lakes already bear warning signs that the fish caught within them may contain dangerously high levels of mercury, which can cause brain damage. But, according to a new study, these fish may also be carrying enough chemicals that mimic the female hormone estrogen to cause breast cancer cells to grow. "Fish are really a sentinel, just like canaries in the coal mine 100 years ago," says Conrad Volz, co-director of exposure assessment at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute's Center for Environmental Ecology. "We need to pay attention to chemicals that are estrogenic in nature, because they find their way back into the water we all use."
Also reporting on this story: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Indian Herbal Remedy Cancer Hope
BBC News, April 17, 2007 – An Indian herbal remedy could one day be used to help fight pancreatic cancer, scientists hope.
A team at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute found extracts of triphala slowed the growth of human pancreatic tumours grafted onto mice.
Salk Fund is Key to New Hillman Cancer Center in Shadyside
Pittsburgh Tribune Review, April 14, 2007 – The size and scope of a planned second Hillman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh's Shadyside neighborhood could depend on legislation that would create a $500 million Jonas Salk Legacy Fund, state and local officials said Friday.
Approval of the fund could make the difference between a 200,000-square-foot and a 400,000-square-foot facility to provide new space for research that no longer is available at the existing Hillman center on Centre Avenue, said officials who touted the need for the Salk fund.
The new research space could be created at either the nearby former Ford Motor Co. building already owned by UPMC or at an eight-acre site across Baum Boulevard from the center, said Dr. Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. The eight-acre site was formerly targeted for a private development project known as Luna Square.
Lifespan of Survivorship: Impact Across the Cancer Continuum
State College, March 30, 2007 – New findings that address the best methods and strategies to improve cancer survivorship across the state will be presented at “Lifespan of Survivorship: Impact Across the Cancer Continuum,” the Third Annual Summit of the Pennsylvania Cancer Control Consortium (PAC3). Nearly 150 researchers, physicians, health care professionals, community and business leaders and cancer advocates from across Pennsylvania will attend the summit from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. today at the Toftrees Resort & Conference Center in State College, Pa.
Also reporting on this story: UPMC / Health Sciences News Bureau