Your gift can provide the research funding that will enable the Siteman Cancer Center to predict, prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure specific cancers more effectively with fewer side effects.
Siteman’s findings will ensure that every cancer patient receives a highly tailored, individualized cancer treatment plan, assuring the best possible path to a full recovery.
Your gift can also help us combine leading-edge medical treatment with care for the psychological and social issues that often accompany cancer diagnosis and treatment. Barnes-Jewish is the only neighboring hospital offering a committed psychosocial consult service to cancer patients, ensuring that every cancer patient’s care team can focus on the right care for helping the patient fight their cancer and return to health.
Recent Cancer Breakthroughs and Novel Research Supported by Gifts to the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation:
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| The late S. Lee Kling and his wife, Rosie |
The S. Lee Kling Endowed Chair in Radiation Oncology
Established through the gifts of many generous donors in honor of the late S. Lee Kling, past chairman of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation Board of Directors, the Kling Endowed Chair in Radiation Oncology will support research into applications of proton beam therapy. Proton beam therapy may revolutionize radiation therapy for certain cancer patients, such as those with cancer of the spine or central nervous system. The Kling Center for Proton Therapy is scheduled to open in late 2010 or early 2011.
Cancer Genetics
A study at the Washington University Genome Sequencing Center and Siteman Cancer Center decoded the complete DNA of a cancer patient and traced her disease—acute myelogenous leukemia—to its genetic root for the first time.
By looking at the patient’s genetic mutations, researchers can begin explaining why she was resistant to chemotherapy – a giant step toward developing more effective ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer.
Breast Cancer
Researchers at the Joanne Knight Breast Health Center and Siteman’s Cancer Prevention and Control Program are creating a database connecting a variety of data on many factors—including genetics—that is helping physicians predict which women are likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer. This information will further help physicians recommend tailored strategies to help these women avoid cancer.
Breast Cancer
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| Matthew Ellis, MB, BChir, PhD, Anheuser-Busch Chair in Medical Oncology (endowed through the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation |
Dr. Matthew Ellis, the Anheuser-Busch Chair in Medical Oncology, and collaborators at other institutions defined a set of 50 genes that can be used to reliably identify the 4 known types of breast cancer.
Oncologists can use this gene set to potentially predict the most effective therapy for each breast tumor type so that treatment choices can be personalized—for example, choosing a hormone-based therapy of a patient’s tumor is the type that will not respond to chemotherapy.
Gynecological Cancer
Washington University researchers translated lab discoveries on genetic markers for endometrial cancer into clinical research at the patient’s bedside, resulting in some findings that have already changed the way we treat patients with endometrial cancer.
As a result, the Gynecological Oncology Division is now recognized as the premier translational research training center of its kind in our country.