3rd Research Matters Conference

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 11, 2003
Contact: Karen Warmkessel kwarmkessel@umm.edu 410-328-8919
Ellen Beth Levitt eblevitt@umm.edu 410-328-8919
Pierre Gantt ganttpi@jhmi.edu (410) 955-1287

TOP MARYLAND RESEARCHERS CONVENE FOR THIRD ANNUAL "RESEARCH MATTERS" CONFERENCE

State officials, researchers and clinicians from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center will meet on Thursday, November 13, to discuss top research initiatives funded by the Maryland Cigarette Restitution Fund (CRF). This is the third such symposium held as part of the CRF's statewide academic health centers cancer initiative. Johns Hopkins is host to this year's conference. Topics will include:

State Perspectives: presentations by Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene Nelson Sabatini and Senator Lisa Gladden on the budget crisis and continued CRF funding;
Disparities in research and service in Baltimore City;
Bringing scientific discovery to the marketplace: How does it happen?
Scientific panel on early-onset colon and pancreatic cancer.

Among the speakers are: Keynote Speaker Robert Wittes, M.D., Physician-In-Chief, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York City); Bert Vogelstein, M.D. and Curt Civin, M.D. from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center; Angela Brodie, Ph.D. and Stephen Meltzer, M.D., of the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center.

"The State of Maryland has become a model for the nation in its appropriation of its tobacco settlement award. We have stood apart from other states, using the CRF as it was intended to impact the high rates of cancer in our state," says Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center Director Martin D. Abeloff, M.D.

The research funds allocated to the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins under the CRF are geared to reducing the morbidity and mortality rates from seven targeted cancers - breast, cervical, colon, lung, oral and prostate cancers and melanoma. In addition to research grants, both institutions also receive tobacco settlement funds for cancer prevention, education, screening and treatment through the Baltimore City Cancer Program.

"The funds have already had a major impact on our ability to accelerate and expand our research and clinical programs for the benefit of the citizens of Maryland. This conference is an excellent opportunity to present information on certain targeted cancers and to further enhance our work with Johns Hopkins," says Stephen C. Schimpff, M.D., Executive Vice President of the University of Maryland Medical Center and interim Director of the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center.

The conference begins at 8:00 a.m. on November 13 in the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Building auditorium on the east Baltimore campus of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. For more information, call (410) 955-1287.

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