(reposted from the Macy Eason Cancer Research Foundation release; This Knight Cancer Institute Seminar Series lecture by Dr. Stefano Cairo is Tuesday June 4 in the OHSU Main Hospital Conference room at 4pm. Public Welcome!)
For the Tuesday June 5 4pm PST LIVE Internet feed for Dr. Cairo's seminar, click here.
ABOUT OHSU
DOERNBECHER CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
(Perry, GA.) - The
Macy Easom Cancer Research Foundation, a nonprofit pediatric cancer foundation
headquartered in Perry, Ga., is catalyzing pediatric cancer research this week
by bring together world-renowned cancer and stem cell doctors and scientists
for the Macy Easom Memorial Lectureship at Oregon Health & Science
University in Portland, Ore., on Tuesday,
June 5.
The Macy Easom
Cancer Research Foundation was established in memory of Macy Easom, a 4-year-old
girl diagnosed with hepatoblastoma, a rare form of pediatric liver cancer, who
passed away at the age of 5. The foundation’s mission is to provide funding to
enable research devoted to finding a cure and treatment for hepatoblastoma and
other pediatric cancers while promoting public awareness.
To help reach its
mission, the foundation has partnered with Stefano
Cairo, Ph.D., a human geneticist at XenTech in Paris, France, as well as Charles Keller, M.D., a nationally
accomplished childhood cancer physician-scientist, and Markus Grompe, M.D., an internationally recognized liver biology
expert -- both from Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine, OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Papé
Family Pediatric Research Institute, and the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute in
Portland, Ore.
“Hepatoblastoma is
a neglected rare cancer in children, but this liver tumor is among the top
eight causes of childhood cancer deaths,” says Dr. Keller. “Scientists studying
other pediatric and adult cancers (including hepatocellular carcinomas) are
building a foundation of knowledge about potential signaling pathways that may
be related to how hepatoblastoma tumors start and progress, but the amount of
focused research on hepatoblastoma is limited and a clear plan to tackle this
disease is lacking.”
Dr. Keller says
the scientific exchange afforded by the lectureship will bring together experts
on hepatoblastoma biology, and those with internationally recognized expertise
in liver stem cells from which this tumor likely arises. “The Macy Easom Cancer
Research Foundation, and its commitment to establishing a basic science
laboratory for the study of hepatoblastoma is of vital importance if we are to
reverse the trend of mortality in this childhood liver cancer.”
For more
information on the Macy Easom Cancer Research Foundation, visit
PrincessMacy.org.
The
lecture, which begins at 4 p.m. in the OHSU Hospital eighth-floor auditorium, is
free and open to the public. For more information, please send an email to collier@ohsu.edu.
About Macy Easom Cancer Research Foundation
The Macy Easom
Cancer Research Foundation in Perry, GA was formed to help find a cure for
hepatoblastoma, a form of pediatric liver cancer, as well as other pediatric
cancers. Macy Easom was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma at the age of four and
passed away at the age of five. Her family has formed the foundation in hopes
of partnering with doctors for pediatric cancer research and to eventually
bring a pediatric cancer research center to the Southeast. PrincessMacy.org.
ABOUT OHSU
DOERNBECHER CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital ranks among the top children's
hospitals in the United States in eight clinical specialties.* It ranks 36th
nationally for NIH-awarded pediatric research funding among children's
hospitals affiliated with an academic medical center**, and is one of only 22
NIH-designated Child Health Research Centers in the country.
OHSU
Doernbecher cares for tens of thousands of children each year from Oregon, southwest
Washington and around the nation, resulting in more than 175,000 discharges,
surgeries, transports and outpatient visits annually.
Nationally
recognized OHSU Doernbecher physicians and nurses provide a full range of
pediatric care in the most patient- and family-centered environment. These
highly trained clinicians also travel throughout Oregon and southwest
Washington, providing specialty care to more than 3,000 children at more than
150 outreach clinics in 15 locations. In addition, OHSU Doernbecher delivers
neonatal and pediatric critical care consultation to community hospitals
statewide through its state-of-the-art telemedicine network.
* U.S. News Best Children's Hospitals 2011-12
** National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions
** National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions
