Dick Woodruff (left) stands with other speakers at the event (left to right): Dr. John Mendelsohn, president of MD Anderson Cancer Center; Rep. Gene Green, U.S. House of Representatives; Dr. Mark Clanton, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society’s High Plains Division; Dr. Patrick Hwu, chair and professor at MD Anderson’s Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology; Jason Connelly, survivor of stage IV melanoma; and Dr. Raymond Dubois, provost and executive vice president at MD Anderson Cancer Center
Cancer community leaders came together at a unique event in Houston on Monday to call on Texas lawmakers to commit to sustained funding for cancer research efforts. Representatives from the American Cancer Society, ACS CAN, the MD Anderson Cancer Center, and U.S. Representative Gene Green convened at the MD Anderson Cancer Center to highlight the impact of Congressional funding cuts on work being done in the state of Texas and across the U.S.
“Federal support of cancer research has put us on the verge of some incredible discoveries,” said Dick Woodruff, vice president of federal relations for ACS CAN. “We now know the most basic molecular structure of many tumors – and with that knowledge we will figure out how to defeat them – to shut down their metabolic functioning.”
Did you know most federal funding for the National Institutes of Health goes directly to research being done in the states? In fact, more than $1 billion went to research institutes in Texas in 2010. The event at MD Anderson highlighted specific groundbreaking projects at the center that could be affected by funding cuts.
It was a large success – staff from five congressional offices attended and reporters from Houston based ABC, NBC, and CBS affiliates covered the event. Check out the ABC story for more.
Filed under: Find Cures
