Researchers at Northwestern’s Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center received a five-year, $13 million grant this month from the National Cancer Institute to aid studies into the prevention, early detection and treatment of breast cancer.
NU was one of four institutions, including Harvard and Johns Hopkins universities and the University of Alabama, to receive the grant known as the Specialized Program of Research Excellence in breast cancer.
The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center in Chicago includes 300 physicians and scientists who conduct cancer-related research as well as the teaching hospitals affiliated with the NU Medical School.
“Our program has developed from nothing to world-class in seven years,” said Prof. V. Craig Jordan, director of Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Lynn Sage Comprehensive Research Program. “Our success is a tribute to all the individuals in the community who are committed to conquering cancer.”
The NU research project includes six studies.
Researchers will look at the roles that diet and hormones play in the development and prevention of breast cancer; investigate the cell and molecular biology of breast cancer; evaluate factors linked to breast cancer risk and prevention; and implement therapies for breast cancer.
Jordan, a Diana, Princess of Wales Professor of Cancer Research, is the principal investigator for the overall project.
The other five researchers are: Robert T. Chatterton, professor of obstetrics, gynecology and physiology; Dr. J. Larry Jameson, Irving S. Cutter Professor and chairman of medicine; Dr. Monica Morrow, professor of surgery and director of the Lynn Sage Comprehensive Breast Program; Dr. Gerald A. Soff, associate professor of medicine; and Dr. Ann Thor, professor of pathology.
In 1993, Jordan and Morrow, who are married, were recruited by NU to develop a university-wide program aimed at the prevention, early detection and treatment of breast cancer. The Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Foundation provides the program with financial resources.