When President Barack Obama called for a national moon shot to end cancer, the MD Anderson community and our patients cheered. For nearly 75 years, cancer has been our priority, and we are heartened to see it elevated to a true national priority.
Annual Report 2015 : Patient care
Sabin gift encourages research that tests the limits, delivers big impact
Thanks to a $30 million commitment from New York-based Andy Sabin and his family foundation, promising young scientists at MD Anderson can independently pursue high-risk, high-impact research projects with one collective goal: to end cancer.
The Andrew Sabin Family Fellowship Program, through an endowment established by the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation, is designed to annually fund up to eight two-year research fellowships, at $100,000 each. The program encourages creative, independent thinking and impactful research. The MD Anderson grant is the foundation’s largest to date.
The gift will help MD Anderson researchers make substantial strides in the fight against cancer, says Ethan Dmitrovsky, M.D., executive vice president and provost of MD Anderson.
“Without the intellectual curiosity of leading young researchers who have the means to explore nontraditional solutions, progress in the fight against cancer will remain slow,” says Dmitrovsky. “The Andrew Sabin Family Foundation’s legacy gift will help advance research that results in real hope for cancer patients and their loved ones.”
Sabin has served on the MD Anderson Cancer Center Board of Visitors since 2005 and is president of Sabin Metal Corp., the largest privately owned precious metals refiner and recycler in the country. He devotes much of his time and energy to advocating on a national level for increased cancer research funding and is widely known as an avid environmentalist, conservationist and wildlife enthusiast.
Sabin says he hopes his gift will eliminate the need for highly qualified researchers at MD Anderson to spend “50 percent of their time fundraising to sustain innovative projects.”
“Through this program, they have the opportunity to focus instead on important work that can truly help people who suffer from cancer,” he says.
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Curing leukemia without debilitating side effects
Jamie Whittington has an aggressive form of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, but you’d never know it.
An immunotherapy drug to bolster a T cell surge
MD Anderson Melanoma Moon Shot researchers are combining two immunotherapies for the first time to double-team melanoma that has spread to other organs and resisted all forms of treatment.
Bold advances require the latest technology
To meet a growing demand for clinical, diagnostic and support services, ground was broken in 2013 for The Pavilion, an eight-story, 184,800-square-foot facility connected to the Main Building.
In the face of cancer
It’s a phrase that describes our patients, who, faced with a disease that is unpredictable and unforgiving, remain strong and determined.
It describes our doctors, researchers, educators and staff, who are relentless in their drive to stop a plague that robs us all of friends, family and loved ones.
He took on the mystery of metastasis. Now he’s taking on brain cancer.
Few scientists have devoted as much of their career to understanding how cancer spreads as Isaiah Fidler, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Graduating to big things before returning to MD Anderson
When Joya Chandra, Ph.D., joined the faculty of MD Anderson’s pediatrics department in 2002, she felt an immediate kinship with the researchers, clinicians and, especially, with the students.
Where rivers of research and clinical data converge into one pool
A simple yet unprecedented goal drives the big data efforts of MD Anderson’s Moon Shots Program: to have every patient contribute to and benefit from the cancer
center’s research.
Bottom line: Converting discoveries into new treatments at a faster rate
When a clinical trial for a new breast cancer drug launched recently, researchers estimated it would take at least two years to enroll the 20 patients needed to make the trial a success. However, within four months, half the patients had already enrolled — and the drug worked for all 10.
Outsmarting cancer with genetic testing
Teresa Hall’s visit to a gastroenterologist three years ago wasn’t the first time she’d sought help for troubling symptoms.
Are you at high risk for pancreatic cancer?
A new clinic to identify and monitor those at high risk for developing pancreatic cancer continues to expand after opening last year.
We’re creating partnerships to detect a deadly cancer earlier
Building on MD Anderson research, a new company named Codiak Biosciences has formed to create therapeutic and diagnostic products using exosomes — small parts of cells that break away and float around the body.
Breast cancer screening guidelines aren’t a one-size-fits-all solution
It’s clear that breast cancer screenings save lives. But exactly when women at average risk of developing breast cancer should begin screening is much less clear.
