Posted on September 10, 2012

Pittsburgh Foundation Awards $2 Million to University of Pittsburgh for Endowed Chairs

The Pittsburgh Foundation has announced two $1 million gifts to the University of Pittsburgh to create endowed chairs in cancer research and personalized medicine.

The Pittsburgh Foundation Chair in Innovative Cancer Research will support advances at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, which conducts pioneering research on the biology of cancer and diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of the disease. UPCI has launched a broad-based community effort to match the $1 million gift with additional funds from individuals.

"Thoughtful investments in priority programs like cancer prevention and control, cancer and aging, women's cancer, and translational research are the underpinnings of this plan," said Nancy Davidson, director of UPCI and UPMC CancerCenter. "Investments in good science like this one are investments in good medicine, helping us attract and retain the best investigators and accelerate our agenda for cancer research in Pittsburgh."

The Pittsburgh Foundation Chair in Personalized Medicine builds on the belief that the variations in genetic blueprints provide insight into an individual's susceptibility to disease and projected response to specific therapy. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center will match the foundation's $1 million gift.

"With personalized medicine, we aim to move the 'one-size-fits-all' model of medicine to a tailored, 'right-sized' model — delivering the right therapy to the right person at the right time," said Steven Shapiro, executive vice president and chief medical and scientific officer of UPMC. "Seventy-five percent of healthcare costs today are associated with chronic diseases like cancer and diabetes. If advances in personalized medicine allow physicians to prevent or better treat these diseases based on a patient's genomic profile, the potential savings in human and financial terms could be very significant."