Wilmot Cancer Center Awarded $11.5M to Fast-track Lymphoma Research

Aiming to energize lymphoma research and clinical trials over the next five years, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded an $11.5 million grant to the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center. This highly competitive Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant marks a major enhancement to URMC cancer research and treatment, and is designed to hasten laboratory findings to patients in the clinic.

The Wilmot Cancer Center is the only institution in Upstate New York to earn this grant; only four other lymphoma SPORE grants exist nationwide.

Cancer care and research are key emphases in the Medical Center’s Strategic Plan, not only because of cancer’s high mortality rates (it’s the second leading cause of death nationwide), but also because Wilmot conducts a robust clinical research program, and is home to one of only a handful of cancer stem cell research programs in the country. In fact, when the strategic plan was first developed, Cancer Integrated Disease Program (IDP) leaders outlined two ambitious goals: To triple the program’s NCI research funding, growing from $10 million to $30 million in five years, and to build national-level clinical programs for the five most common cancers (leukemia and lymphomas, breast, prostate, lung and colon cancers). This SPORE grant marks substantial progress toward achieving both ends.

“The SPORE grant represents the first of what we hope to be several SPORE grants in the years to come,” said Bradford C. Berk, M.D., Ph.D., Medical Center C.E.O. “It confirms the caliber of our science and our ability to perform research that translates into life-extending cures.”

The NCI’s SPORE grants specially cater to translational research – the heart of URMC’s strategic plan – by targeting projects that employ clinician-scientist teamwork, allowing discoveries to be fast-tracked to clinical trial. Wilmot’s grant will fund four such lymphoma research projects, as well as strengthen core infrastructure programs necessary for supporting these projects, such as tissue-banking resources, biostatistics, developmental research, and career development for young lymphoma researchers.

“This SPORE grant will have a dramatic effect on the quality of lymphoma research here in Rochester,” said Richard I. Fisher, M.D., director of the Wilmot Cancer Center and vice president of the Medical Center. Fisher said. “It will allow us to offer new therapies to our patients long before other institutions, and that is the ultimate goal for the program – bringing new discoveries, new therapies to clinical care as fast as possible to save more lives.”

Click here to learn more about the lymphoma SPORE grant.