April 20, 2015:
The Ovarian Cancer Dream Team has been chosen!
The Dream Team will focus on “DNA Repair Therapies for Ovarian Cancer,” building on recent advances that have identified DNA repair as a common weakness in ovarian cancer. Researchers will also explore the prevention and early detection of ovarian cancer by developing a web-based approach to genetic testing and counseling. Dream Team researchers hope to offer women identified as genetically high risk a choice of surgical options, including one that removes the fallopian tubes but spares the ovaries. The Dream Team grant will provide funding over a three-year period, starting in July 2015.
The new Dream Team will be led by Alan D’Andrea, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, and by Elizabeth M. Swisher, MD, of the University of Washington. The project also involves researchers at the Mayo Clinic, University of Chicago, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. The Dream Team includes three patient advocates: Kathleen Gavin, executive director of the Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance; Sue Friedman, executive director of FORCE (Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered); and ovarian cancer survivor Jamie Crase.
We would like to thank the organizations and individuals who have helped fund our groundbreaking Ovarian Cancer Dream Team, in particular the Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation, HERA Women’s Cancer Foundation, Colleen’s Dream Foundation,Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance and Ovarian Cancer Alliance of Greater Cincinnati. Click here for a full list of our Dream Team funding partners.
We continue to update our website with news and updates on the Ovarian Cancer Dream Team, as well as sharing key updates with you by email. Still have questions? Feel free to email us or call the Alliance offices for more information about the Dream Team. We are excited to see where this new research leads!
Click here to read the full press release.
Photo: From left to right, Dr. Jeff Boyd, Vice-chairperson of the Joint Scientific Advisory Committee (JSAC), Dr. Laura K. Shawver, cancer survivor and member of the JSAC, Kathleen A. Gavin, advocate Dream Team member, Brittany Daniel, Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) Celebrity Ambassador and cancer survivor, Dr. Elizabeth M. Swisher, Co-leader of the Ovarian Cancer Dream Team, Dr. Margaret Foti, CEO of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), and Dr. Alan D. D’Andrea, Leader of the new Ovarian Cancer Dream Team, attend the announcement of two new SU2C Dream Teams at the AACR Annual Meeting on Monday, April 20, 2015 in Philadelphia. The Dream Team is a collaboration of SU2C and the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, Ovarian Cancer National Alliance, and National Ovarian Cancer Coalition. (Photo by Mark Stehle/Invision for Entertainment Industry Foundation/AP Images) (Photo by Mark Stehle/Invision for Entertainment Industry Foundation/AP Images)
