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October 31, 2007

COP receives funds for cancer research from the Louisiana Cancer Foundation

The University of Louisiana at Monroe College of Pharmacy received $12,500 from the Louisiana Cancer Foundation Thursday, Oct. 25 at 2:30 p.m. in the Bienville Building, located at 1800 Bienville Dr. The donation will help fund breast and prostate cancer research currently being conducted by the COP.

This is the third consecutive year that the Foundation chose the College as a recipient for research support; in fact, it increased last year’s $10,000 donation by $2,500.

“It’s a good cooperative effort that we have between the ULM [COP] and the Louisiana Cancer Foundation,” said Virginia Knickerbocker, director of the Foundation. Part of our mission is research. ULM is doing [this] for both breast and prostate cancer, and we have support groups for both. We’re delighted to be a part of this—it helps us fulfill our mission to the community, it supports ULM, and it does a lot of good for the area, and one day, the world.”

Knickerbocker thanked the COP’s Dr. Paul Sylvester (breast cancer research) and Dr. Girish Shah (prostate research) for their ongoing partnership with the Louisiana Cancer Foundation.

Dr. Shah, for example, has repeatedly been a guest speaker. His research focuses on a tumor marker that can detect cancer much earlier in blood samples. “This will definitely be beneficial to the program, especially in regards to early screening for cancer,” he said.

Dr. Sylvester and other ULM faculty work to determine whether a rare form of Vitamin E found in palm oil called tocotrienol can become a powerful weapon against breast cancer.

Knickerbocker also acknowledged ULM’s Dr. Jan Corder, a board member for the Northeast Louisiana Cancer Institute in addition to being a professor in the School of Nursing, and Dr. Greg Leader, associate dean of the COP, for their valuable contributions.

The Louisiana Cancer Foundation was founded in 1999 by the Northeast Louisiana Cancer Institute for the purpose of increasing public awareness, early detection, treatment, and research for cancer in the state of Louisiana. It also supports several organizations with volunteer and monetary help.

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