Cohen Announces $346K for University of Memphis for Cancer Research

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today announced that the University of Memphis has been awarded $346,324 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for cancer cause and prevention research. The funds will be distributed via the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

“The University of Memphis is known and well respected for its many research programs,” said Congressman Cohen. “These new federal funds will go a long way toward helping people in Memphis and Shelby County who suffer from lung disease, and help save lives.”

The study supported by this grant will test whether a uniquely designed specimen collection toolkit can enhance the accuracy of disease staging and therefore improve outcomes for lung cancer patients post-surgery. The geographic area of the study -- Eastern Arkansas, Northern Mississippi and Western Tennessee -- is diverse and has a high rate of lung cancer-related deaths. Thus, the specimen toolkit will be tested on a diverse patient population, and by a diverse group of surgeons and institutions, in an effort to ensure that results from the study apply to multiple settings, potentially maximizing the toolkit’s use across geographic areas and populations.

The mission of NCI is to conduct and support research that will lead to the prevention of cancer before it begins, the identification of cancers that do develop at the earliest stage, the elimination of cancers through innovative treatment interventions, and the ability to biologically control those cancers that cannot be eliminated so that they become manageable, chronic diseases. For more than 70 years, the NCI has been the federal government’s principal agency for cancer research. The NCI supports and coordinates a wide range of medical research through grants to universities, hospitals, and research foundations across the country.