National Lung Cancer Partnership/LUNGevity Foundation

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Career Development Award Recipient

http://sev.prnewswire.com/health-care-h ... 007-1.html

National Lung Cancer Partnership/LUNGevity Foundation Announce Career Development Award Recipient

$100,000 award will support doctor in researching gender differences in lung cancer survival

MADISON, Wis., Jan. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Lung Cancer Partnership and the LUNGevity Foundation are pleased to announce that Dr. Michele Cote of Wayne State University was awarded the organization's Career Development Award.

The Career Development Award is intended to provide "protected time" for newly independent investigators to develop their careers for two years of their initial lung cancer research projects, according to Regina Vidaver, Ph.D., executive director of the National Lung Cancer Partnership.

"It is so critical to provide this type of career support to young investigators in lung cancer," Vidaver said. "Lung cancer research is severely under-funded in proportion to the death toll from the disease, so it is imperative to support those individuals who do decide to persevere in the face of a poor funding climate."

The 2-year, $100,000 award will support Dr. Cote as she pursues research investigating what the role of estrogen-related tumor characteristics are in predicting sex-specific survival after a lung cancer diagnosis. According to Dr. Cote, women have slightly better survival rates than men, suggesting that hormones might play a role in lung cancer progression.

"The identification of molecular and genetic profiles associated with survival will help target treatment advances in hopes of improving survival for a cancer in which little progress has been realized," Dr. Cote said.

National Lung Cancer Partnership is the only national lung cancer organization founded by physicians and researchers and focused on understanding how the disease affects women differently than men. The 501© (3) organization was founded in 2001.

The LUNGevity Foundation is the only organization in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to funding lung cancer research. The 501 © (3) organization was founded in 2000 by seven Chicago-area lung cancer survivors to increase funding for lung cancer research.