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WHY WE'RE FUNDRAISING WITH THE JIMMY FUND WALK TO FIGHT CANCER
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women and the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. In 2020, it is estimated that there will be 104,610 new cases of colon cancer and 43,340 new cases of rectal cancer. This means about 1 in 24 people develop will colorectal cancer at in their lifetime. Due to a combination of screening and improved treatments, survivorship has increased over the past 20 years; however, deaths from colorectal cancer among people younger than age 55 have increased 2% per year from 2007 and 2016. There is an urgent need to accelerate the development of new treatments for colorectal cancer.
The Project P Fund was established by Paula and Russ Agrusa in 2014 to help identify new ways to activate the immune system to fight colon cancer. After several years of fighting, Paula lost her battle with colon cancer on February 7, 2016, but with your support, we can help to improve the research and treatment of colorectal cancer for years to come.
The Project P Fund supports cutting-edge colorectal cancer studies under the direction of a world-class multidisciplinary team of physician-scientists at Dana-Farber: by Kimmie Ng, MD, MPH, Director of the Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Center and Director of Translational Research in the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center (GCC); Jeffrey Meyerhardt, MD, MPH, FASCO, Deputy Clinical Research Officer, Douglas Woodruff Chair in Colorectal Cancer Research, and Co-Director of the Colon and Rectal Cancer Center; and Marios Giannakis, MD, PhD, physician and Principal Investigator of the Giannakis Laboratory in the GCC.
Drs. Ng, Meyerhardt and Giannakis, and their collaborators throughout Dana-Farber, Harvard, MIT’s Broad Institute and other leading cancer centers, use your support to examine the role of the immune system in colorectal cancer development and progression, ultimately aiming to develop and test novel therapies that activate a patient’s immune system to fight colorectal cancer. To read more about their exciting research, please visit the resources below:
https://giannakislab.dana-farber.org/
https://www.today.com/health/colorectal-cancer-rise-among-young-adults-doctors-want-know-why-t175216
https://twitter.com/DanaFarberNews/status/1112842062884466688
Your gift will help Drs. Ng, Meyerhardt, and Giannakis as they explore the link between immune cells and patient outcomes and apply advanced genomic sequencing technologies to uncover novel molecular and genetic abnormalities. These studies and others supported by your contributions to the Project P Fund will help the gastrointestinal research team understand the drivers of colorectal cancer, empowering them to develop new targeted therapies, as well as immunotherapies that leverage the body's natural defenses.
Paula was a kind, generous and very compassionate person; always fair and always thinking a few steps ahead. There are very few "Paulas" in this world and we were fortunate enough to have her bless us with her amazing passion, hard work and incredible talent. Since 1988, she worked for ICONICS, Inc., and was known for coordinating fantastic customer conferences and events. Paula enjoyed accounting, financial analysis, drafting a good, solid, legal contract and, as CFO, relished a profitable P&L. Through her hard work, she helped ICONICS grow into an international software company where she managed the HR, Legal, MIS, IT and Accounting departments.
"We are very proud to support Dana-Farber and the talented team in this incredible work, which we hope will accelerate discovery of new treatments to benefit colorectal cancer patients for years to come." - Paula T. Agrusa
THANK YOU TO OUR TEAM MEMBERS
= Team CaptainTHANK YOU TO OUR TEAM DONORS
