Stanford Radiology and the Canary Foundation Create Center of Excellence for Cancer Early Detection

Posted 10:53 AM, July 11, 2007, by jaruiz

From left to right: Gary M. Glazer, MD, Professor and Chair of Radiology; Don Listwin, CEO of the Canary Foundation; Beverly S. Mitchell, MD, Stanford Cancer Center Deputy Director; Philip Pizzo, MD, Medical School Dean; and Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiology, Professor of Bioengineering, and Director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS).

By Julie Ruiz, PhD

The Stanford Department of Radiology and the Canary Foundation have united to support research in early cancer detection by slating a grand total of $11.5 million dollars for research in molecular diagnostics and by creating the Center of Excellence for Cancer Early Detection. The Canary Foundation, a nonprofit organization that funds research in early cancer detection, has donated $7.5 million to Stanford University to fund early cancer detection. Of this total, $1.5 million will go to the Stanford Cancer Center, which has recently received a National Cancer Institute designation. The Department of Radiology will match the remaining $6 million of the Canary Foundation pledge with $4 million, resulting in the allocation of $10 million to establish a Center of Excellence for Cancer Early Detection. Headed by Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, professor of radiology as well as bioengineering and director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), the Center will advance molecular diagnostics by emphasizing molecular imaging to detect cancer at its earliest and most treatable stage.

Our Chairman, Gary M. Glazer, praised the alliance between our Department and the Canary Foundation: "Stanford's Radiology Department has played a leading role in advancing the revolution in medical imaging, which has transformed patient care over the past several decades. The newly developing field of cellular and molecular imaging has immense promise for providing tools for the far earlier detection of cancer and the assessment of response to therapy than existing methods. We are delighted that the Canary Foundation has recognized this potential and the strengths of Stanford by generously contributing to create this Center of Excellence."

The money for the Center will be allocated by a board consisting of Dr. Gary M. Glazer; Dr. Sam Gambhir; Dr. Beverly Mitchell, deputy director of Stanford's Cancer Center; and Donald Listwin, founder and CEO of the Canary Foundation (http://www.canaryfoundation.org). Dr. Gambhir is one of the researchers who will receive funds from the Canary Foundation's pledge. His work focuses on merging advances in molecular biology with those in biomedical imaging to revolutionize the diagnosis and management of disease and enable fundamental studies of cancer biology in living subjects (http://cancer.stanford.edu/features/research_news/Canary-Gift.html).

By making a pledge, the Canary Foundation has recognized the potential of developing new tools for the early detection of cancer and acknowledged the strengths of our faculty to make this a reality. The broad initiatives of the Center of Excellence offer great synergies with existing efforts across our Department and the School of Medicine. This remarkable opportunity will enable our faculty to pursue promising lines of work in early cancer detection.