CANCER SURVIVOR ESTABLISHES ENDOWED CHAIR TO HELP OTHERS DIAGNOSED WITH LUNG AND ESOPHAGEAL CANCERS
PITTSBURGH, Sept. 12 – Plum native and Pittsburgh real estate developer, Myles D. Sampson, has announced a $1.5 million gift to the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine's department of surgery to establish the Sampson Family Endowed Chair in Thoracic Surgical Oncology. The chair will help promote clinical and surgical strategies to prevent, detect, diagnose and treat lung and esophageal cancers, collectively diagnosed in approximately 187,000 Americans each year.
“Thoracic malignancies can be devastating for a patient,” said James D. Luketich, MD, the initial chair incumbent and associate professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and chief, division of thoracic surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). “These diseases, in particular, are extremely difficult to treat long term and can have a detrimental impact on quality of life. There is much more we need to learn about the causes of these cancers and about how we can catch them earlier on, when treatment is more likely to succeed. We are extremely grateful to Myles for the formation of this chair because it will allow us to pursue promising, new approaches that we hope will translate into vast improvements in treatment and earlier diagnoses.”
Mr. Sampson, diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 1999, opted for minimally invasive esophagectomy to remove part of his stomach and most of his esophagus. “When I first heard I had cancer, I thought it was a death sentence,” said Mr. Sampson. “It turned out to be a wake-up call that positively changed my outlook on life. I'd like to pass along hope to others in similar situations and decided that establishing the chair would be the best way to do this and to express my sincere gratitude.”
Mr. Sampson added that he hopes his commitment will attract an additional $1.5 million in philanthropic support for the initiative.
Dr. Luketich, also chief of UPMC's Heart, Lung and Esophageal Surgery Institute, explained that the funds provided by Mr. Sampson will be used to pursue research in a number of promising areas including the molecular detection and staging of cancers to better understand a patient's risk for recurrence; the detection of micrometastases in lymph nodes that could help detect these cancers much earlier in their development; the creation of therapeutic vaccine approaches to stimulate a patient's immune system to fight cancer; the evaluation of minimally invasive esophagectomy outcomes in a multi-site trial; and improved understanding of genetic mutations that may be associated with defects in the ability of cells to repair themselves once cancer has invaded.
More than 25 percent of all cancer patients in the U.S. are diagnosed with lung cancer. Esophageal cancer rates also are rising rapidly, and have increased sixfold over the last 25 years. Only 15 percent of lung cancer patients and only 14 percent of esophageal cancer patients survive five years past their diagnoses.
Mr. Sampson is chairman and CEO of Rimco Properties. He was born and raised in the Pittsburgh area, graduating from Plum High School before earning a degree in business administration from Bucknell University.
For more information about the chair or to make a donation, call UPCI's development office at (412) 623-4700. (Learn more about giving to UPCI and UPMC Cancer Centers)
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