For the seventh year in a row, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) awarded Dr. Albert Deisseroth, president and CEO of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (SKCC), a $250,000 grant to support his work.
“The Breast Cancer Research Foundation has supported the development of my breast cancer vaccine program since 2000, because their mission is to promote the development of new ideas and programs for the treatment of breast cancer,” Deisseroth said.
“The support that I have been given by the BCRF is an honor but, more importantly, like the knowledge that there are women and men engaged in a struggle with breast cancer from which loss of life and disruption of life may occur, I feel a moral obligation to do everything in my power to use this money given to me to bring a new opportunity for therapy of breast cancer to the clinical area as soon as possible.”
The grant, which was awarded during the annual BCRF’s luncheon in New York, will be used specifically to support clinical trials for a breast cancer vaccine, which are expected to start sometime this year at UCLA and Sharp HealthCare, SKCC’s clinical partner.
“We are now assessing the impact of adding the vaccine to allogeneic bone marrow transplantation by vaccinating the recipients against their leukemia and lymphoma following the transplant,” Deisseroth said. “The vaccine can also be used to accelerate the restoration of immunity against viral diseases following transplant, and we are studying that as well so as to reduce the risk of fatal viral infections following allografts."
The Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center is located at 10905 Road to the Cure. For information, visit www.skcc.org.