Cancer Researchers Share Progress Toward a Cure; California Postdoctoral Fellows Convene in Pasadena May 11-12.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

BIOWIRE2K

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--May 10, 2000

The American Cancer Society California Division's 16th Annual Fellows Conference for biomedical, psycho-social and clinical cancer researchers convenes in Pasadena Thursday, May 11, as more than 40 postdoctoral fellows will share new insights about cancer and how to translate that knowledge into prevention and treatment measures to help patients and their families.

David Baltimore, president of the California Institute of Technology, winner of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology and one of the nation's most distinguished biologists; Inder Verma, Ph.D., a Salk Institute professor now involved with pioneer gene therapy research; and Dr. Harmon Eyre, executive vice president for research and medical affairs for the American Cancer Society, are all scheduled to address the research fellows during the two-day conference at the DoubleTree Hotel in Pasadena.

The conference also will highlight the uniqueness of the American Cancer Society's $108 million annual research program that concentrates on beginning researchers and novel research opportunities. In fact, some 20-25 percent of all ACS cancer research funding is allocated to beginning researchers at scientific and medical institutions across the country.

Overall, the Society dedicates more money than any other private, non-profit, non-government funder of cancer research in the United States, more than $2 billion since 1946 when the formal research program began. Thousands of scientists have received support through the Society, including 30 whose work was later awarded the Nobel Prize.

"The efforts of many dedicated researchers across the country, including those in California, are the key to saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer," said Eyre of the Society's national office. "By providing support to researchers at many locations, we can fund a number of innovative proposals on the prevention and treatment of cancer and do so without the overhead of operating our own laboratory facilities," Eyre said.

The researchers scheduled to attend the conference include those from the University of California at Los Angeles, Irvine, San Diego, Berkeley, San Francisco and Davis; Stanford University, California Institute of Technology and the University of Southern California.

The American Cancer Society is the nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer through research, education, advocacy and service.

For more information about this conference contact Alonza Robertson at the Society's California Division office at 510/893-7900. For more general information, call the national toll-free hotline anytime at 1-800/ACS-2345 or go online at www.cancer.org/ca.