Inspirations Volume 7 - Gabrielle`s Angel Foundation

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Inspirations
Inspirations
FALL 2006 | VOLUME 7
Board of Directors
Denise Rich
Co-Founder
Philip Aouad
Co-Founder
Deborah Dunsire, M.D.
Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
A Newsletter from The G&P Foundation for Cancer Research
The G&P Foundation to Honor
Glamour Magazine’s Cindi Leive,
Patti LaBelle, Kimora Lee and Russell
Simmons at the Angel Ball 2005
Cindi Leive
Star Jones Reynolds
The VIEW
Clifford Perlman, Esq.
Perlman & Perlman
Frank Rella
Trine Rolled Molding Corp.
Michele Rella
Director
Daniella Rich
Director
Ilona Rich Schachter
Director
Paul Schindler, Esq.
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Donald Toresco
Toresco Enterprises, Inc.
Erin Zammett
Glamour Magazine
Medical Advisory Board
Chair: Dr. Stephen D. Nimer
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Dr. Barrie R. Cassileth
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Dr. Curt I. Civin
Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Jerome Groopman
Harvard Institute of Medicine
Dr. Julie A. Ross
University of Minnesota Cancer Center
LEGENDARY SINGER/SONGWRITER Patti LaBelle,
Russell Simmons, Chairman and CEO of Rush
Communications, Kimora Lee Simmons, Creative
Director of Baby Phat and Glamour Magazine’s
Editor-in-Chief Cindi Leive will be recognized
for their outstanding contributions as humanitarians and philanthropic leaders at our Angel Ball
gala. The Angel Ball will take place on Monday,
November 14th at the New York Marriott
Marquis and will feature a cocktail reception,
dinner and a silent and live auction. The evening
will include a star-studded line up of performances and presentations by today’s hottest stars
including Joy Behar, Lorraine Bracco, Natalie
Cole, Rita Cosby, Gavin DeGraw, Jamie-Lynn
DiScala, Fran Drescher, Chaka Khan, Nelly, Star
Jones Reynolds, Felicia Taylor, Montel Williams
and Stevie Wonder and more to come! Sponsors
for Angel Ball 2005 include Donald Toresco
of Toresco Enterprises, Inc. and Condé Nast
Publications. You won’t want to miss this event.
For more information and to purchase tickets,
contact Inez Weinstein Special Events, Inc.,
141 Fifth Avenue, NYC 10010 – P: 212.254.6677 or
email [email protected]. We look forward
to sharing an incredible evening with you on
November 14th.
Univesity of Chicago
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Dr. Jeffrey D. White
Bethesda, Maryland
Dr. Cheryl L. Willman
University of New Mexico Cancer
Research Facility
Staff
Jennifer Ranieri
Christa Justus
41 East 11th Street,
Floor 11
New York, NY 10003
Tel: 212.905.6200
Fax: 212.905.6203
www.gpfoundation .com
[email protected]
Kimora Lee Simmons
Russell Simmons
Dr. Janet D. Rowley
Dr. Rainer F. Storb
Patti LaBelle
Shop For A Cure…
Limited-Edition Angel Tank Tops
IN CONJUNCTION WITH ANGEL BALL 2005
we have teamed up with chic women’s clothing
company, Priorities to create a limited-edition
angel tank top to be offered exclusively at
www.prioritiesnyc.com. The crystal-embellished
tank tops, designed by Priorities President, Stefani
Toonkel-Greenspan, echo the theme of the
Foundation and will retail for $30.00. Thanks to
the generosity of Priorities, $19.00 of every tank
sold will go directly to The G&P Foundation and
our mission to fund cancer research until a cure is
found. Angel tank tops make perfect holiday gifts –
to place your order, call 212-905-6200 or shop
online at www.prioritiesnyc.com. Thank you for
your support.
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Since 1998, The G&P
Foundation has supported
the following researchers
with over $4.2 million in
Medical Research Awards:
Andreas Beutler, MD
Mount Sinai Medical Center
Julia Glade-Bender, MD
Columbia University
Chaun He, MD
The University of Chicago
Timothy Graubert, MD
University of Washington
Ari Melnick, MD
Albert Einstein College of Medicine,
Yeshiva University
John M. Timmerman, MD
University of California, Los Angeles
Hilda B. Ye, PhD
Albert Einstein College of Medicine,
Yeshiva University
Nigel Killeen, PhD
The University of California,
San Francisco
William S. Blaner, PhD
Columbia University
David Frank, MD, PhD
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
George Georges, MD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Wei Chen, MD, PhD
The University of Minnesota
Yongkui Jing, PhD
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Jeffrey J. Molldrem, MD
University of Texas,
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Iris Bell, MD
University of Arizona
Fay Young, MD
University of Rochester
Martin Carroll, MD
G&P Board Member
Erin Zammett
Publishes Memoir
MY (SO-CALLED) NORMAL LIFE
HOW I LEARNED TO BALANCE LOVE, WORK,
FAMILY, FRIENDS… AND CANCER AT 23
TWENTY-THREE YEARS OLD and fresh out
of college, Erin Zammett had it all: a loving boyfriend, a supportive family, and a
great new job as assistant editor at
Glamour Magazine. She was looking forward to a future of unlimited promiseuntil suddenly, she was forced to deal
with something no person, young or old,
is ever prepared to face. Just twentyfour hours after a routine checkupwhere everything appeared to be fineher doctor called to tell her she had a
type of cancer, Chronic Myelogenous
Leukemia. The only proven cure was a
bone marrow treatment; without treatment, Erin would have roughly five
years to live. After the initial shock wore
off, and with the support of her family
and friends, her inner strength, and a
recently approved drug, Erin immediately set off on the journey that would
lead to her full recovery. She began to
document her experiences to provide an
outlet for her conflicted thoughts and
emotions. The result, My (So-Called)
Normal Life, is a memoir of unparalleled
candor and poignancy, encompassing
much more than leukemia and the battle
to overcome it. Above all, it’s the story
of a twenty-something living her dream
life amid the unlimited adventure and
opportunity of Manhattan, confronting
the challenges of her new life and her
new job battling cancer-with humor,
courage and unbounded optimism.
University of Pennsylvania
Louis Naumovski, MD, PhD
Stanford University
Issa Khouri, MD
University of Texas,
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Craig Y. Okada, MD, PhD
University of Michigan
Stephen X. Skapek, MD
St. Jude Children’s Hospital
Stephen Pirie-Shepherd, PhD
Harvard University Children’s Hospital
The G&P Foundation is proud to have
the distinction as one of the largest
non-governmental sources of grant
support to blood cancer researchers at
the nation’s leading institutions.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
We want to hear what you think
about INSPIRATIONS. Please e-mail
your comments and suggestions to
[email protected]
“
I wish I had eaten more cheeseburgers. Big juicy fat ones with pickles and
ketchup and toasted buns. It's not that I like cheeseburgers so much (I’m really
more of a chicken girl), it’s what they represent to me: joie de vivre, a laid-back,
whatever goes attitude—something I’ve never had. See, I’ve always been a control
freak, a perfectionist, striving to do and be more every minute of the day. Never
quite satisfied. On paper, I had it all: a job at Glamour magazine, an awesome
boyfriend, a great apartment in New York City, parties to go to almost every night
and a supportive, close-knit family nearby. I was living the life I’d always wanted.
But I was afraid if I slowed down to really enjoy that life, I might not be able to get
enough items checked off my to-do list. I might not be a huge success, and nothing
could be worse than that. Then, when I was 23, busy plotting my next move, stockpiling my hopes and dreams, I was diagnosed with cancer. So much for big plans.
There is no preparing for news like that, no penciling it in to your otherwise packed
schedule. It just happens, without warning. No symptoms, no heads-up, just cancer
handed to me on a perfectly nice Tuesday afternoon.
”
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Meet Our Medical
Advisory Board!
Second in a Series
“INSPIRATIONS” continues its series of interviews introducing our readers to the
esteemed physicians on The G&P Foundation
Medical Advisory Board. In each issue of our
newsletter we showcase a member of the
board by asking each doctor to share with
the audience his or her specialty or to talk
about interests they hold especially dear in
their chosen medical field.
In this second installment in our series we
introduce you to Curt I. Civin, M.D. Dr. Civin is
the Herman & Walter Samuelson Professor
of Oncology and Pediatrics at the Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine and
co-Director of the Division of Immunology
and Hematopoiesis. He is an innovator in laboratory research on lympho-hematopoiesis
(blood and immune system development),
leukemia, stem cell transplantation, and
gene therapy. His discovery of the CD34 lympho-hematopoietic stem cell antigen and
monoclonal antibody has facilitated basic
research and provided new treatment
options in clinical transplantation.
DR. CIVIN:
“In the laboratory for most of my career I’ve
worked on stem cells and leukemia. The stem
cells that I’ve spent most of my career studying come from umbilical cord blood as well as
from bone marrow or blood of adults. I focus
on the stem cells of these adult sources that
make cells of the blood and immune system;
the (lympho-)hematopoietic stem cells.
MY WORK IN THE 1980’S took advantage of
the technology to make monoclonal antibodies and the ability of monoclonal antibodies to bind selectively to just a single
protein. We found a protein that serves as
a flag that labels only hematopoietic stem
and progenitor cells (Progenitor cells are
the next cells that develop from stem cells)
— not mature cells. A stem cell functions
kind of like a queen bee: the hematopoietic
stem cell makes all the other cells in the
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON STEM CELL RESEARCH:
National Foundation for Cancer Research:
http://www.nfcr.org
Stem Cell Journal: www.stemcells.com
National Institute of Health:
http://stemcells.nih.gov/index.asp
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine:
http://www.jhu.edu
blood and immune system. Many cells in
our blood and immune system exist for
just a few hours in the blood circulation,
and so they need to be replenished constantly. There are a small number of stem
cells, only a few million, in our bone marrows that generate literally pounds of
mature blood cells every week. So, some
of these stem cells are always pumping
along furiously making our blood and
immune system cells. To study these
important but rare cells, we needed to be
able to identify them with a flag
Our monoclonal antibody called CD34 has
become quite famous because it accomplishes this difficult task. Scientists can
now flag hematopoietic stem cells with the
CD34 antibody. In addition, they can then
convert that CD34 antibody flag into a
hook. Scientists can use a scientific fishing
rod, actually a column of magnetic beads,
to then reel in these queen bee stem cells
that are labeled with CD34. Then we can
study these stem cells in the laboratory.
This has resulted in two kinds of gains.
The exciting immediate gain has been
that CD34 stem cells have been used to
transplant thousands of patients. It is a
tremendous source of gratification to me
to see my own and other cured patients,
who have received CD34 stem cells purified free of their cancer cells or free of
immune cells that would be deleterious
in a bone marrow transplant. It’s the
biggest prize to see my laboratory discoveries used to help sick people.
In addition, many basic gains have come
from being able to purify the stem cells
for further scientific investigation. For
example, now that we can purify these
rare stem cells, which are the queen
bees, the engines of the bone marrow, we
can find out which of our 30,000 genes
are active and vital in stem cells.
Recently, we’ve identified the genes that
are active in these stem cells and not in
more mature cells. Now we’re taking
these genes, one by one, and studying
them. Perhaps one of these newly identified stem cell genes might provide an
even better flag to identify and reel in
the very earliest stem cells. Others of
these genes might be the stem cell master genes which control the key functions
of stem cells. We might learn the molec-
ular mechanisms which regulate how
stem cells home to the bone marrow. Or
how stem cells self renew, that is, divide
and make more stem cells. Or how they
differentiate to make mature blood cells.
Or how they become a white blood cell
versus a red blood cell. There are many,
many questions like that that scientists
need to answer to figure out the molecular workings of stem cells.
Understanding stem cell biology is
important not only to bone marrow
transplantation. These stem cells are the
cells that mal-develop into leukemias
and other cancers of the blood and
immune system. So, once we understand
the normal stem cell, we can make comparisons with leukemic cells to find out
where a leukemic cell has gone wrong
and perhaps how to treat it better
with new, targeted, highly specific
chemotherapies.
Another very exciting area that we have
recently gotten into is the use of human
embryonic stem cell lines, the
Presidential-approved human embryonic
stem cells that scientists developed from
leftover cells created by IVF (in vitro
fertilization). We’ve taken these human
embryonic stem cells and learned how to
differentiate them into blood cells. Now
we can study the very earliest events in
blood cell formation, events that we
can’t study from adult stem cells. How
do these embryonic stem cells decide to
become hematopoietic stem cells versus
the stem cells for blood vessels cells?
This decision is made very early gestation, before one month of pregnancy,
before a woman even really knows that
she’s pregnant. So this is very hard to
study, except by use of human embryonic stem cell lines.
We’re very excited about being able to
manipulate the expression of genes in stem
cells to better understand them, to control
them and to make eventually better cells for
stem cell transplantation. Based on our
experience, we are confident that this
understanding will lead to better diagnosis,
treatment, and ultimately prevention of
cancers. That’s what we’re all about in my
lab: by scientific discovery, working to
improve things for children and adults
with cancer.”
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“
With the crippling cuts in the NIH budget, especially for
peer investigator research, The G&P Foundation becomes
even more essential to help young scientists; they are
among our greatest treasures but also the most vulnerable
to inadequate funding support as they begin their careers.
Dr. Janet D. Rowley, University of Chicago
THE PURPOSE OF The G&P Foundation for Cancer
Research is to encourage the development of
more effective therapies for patients with
leukemia, lymphoma and related cancers. The
Foundation funds innovative clinical or basic
science research that will lead to novel therapeutic approaches that could replace or be used in
combination with existing therapies. Such therapeutic approaches could include integrative
(integrative/complementary) medicine.
”
”
The Foundation funds research to improve the
efficacy of cancer treatments, reduce their toxicity
and improve the quality of life of patients with
leukemia or lymphoma.
The Foundation also supports limited scientific
interchange between select leaders in different areas
of bio and integrative medical research to develop
unique and important collaborative efforts that will
lead to improvements in the treatment and care of
patients with leukemia and lymphoma.
Recycle Your Old Cell phone,
Make a Difference
THE G&P FOUNDATION has partnered with
Charitable Recycling to provide a helpful alternative to the disposal of cell phones in landfills.
Just donate your old cell phone and Charitable
Recycling will refurbish and distribute them to
provide emergency services to battered adults
and children, senior citizens and medical
patients awaiting organ transplants. For each cell
phone collected, The G&P Foundation will
receive $1.00 for its mission to fund research
until a cure for cancer is found.
All cell phones regardless of age or working
condition are accepted. Make certain to deactivate your phone prior to donation by contacting
your service provider. For information visit,
www.charitablerecycling.com and indicate The
G&P Foundation as the beneficiary of your cell
phone donation.
PLEASE JOIN US AND SHOP IN SUPPORT OF
THE G&P FOUNDATION
Wednesday, November 30 – Sunday, December 4
25% of your purchases will be
donated to The G&P Foundation
HOLIDAY SHOPPING BENEFIT
Help support our organization by doing your holiday shopping at participating
Americana Manhasset and Wheatley Plaza stores from Wednesday, November 30
to Sunday, December 4 during regular shopping center hours. Select our organization when registering for your CHAMPION CARD. Champions for Charity is
a holiday shopping benefit where 25% of your pre-tax purchase will be donated
to those charities you select. Your purchases are not automatically eligible.
Your CHAMPION CARD is required to allocate your donation and MUST be
presented at the time of each purchase. All 2005 Champions for Charity shoppers
will be eligible to win a $2,000 Americana Manhasset GiftCard.
To register for your CHAMPION CARD and for further information about
Champions for Charity, visit www.championsforcharity.org, call 516.627.2277 or
visit Americana Manhasset’s Concierge Store.
Your Invitation to Purchase
Limited Edition Medals
18 KARAT GOLD &
STERLING SILVER MEDALS
from The British Royal Mint
To order your commemorative
Gabrielle Rich Aouad medal
call the Royal Mint at
800-221-1215.
When ordering, please refer to the
medals by their product number’s:
GOLD # B2BFGP SILVER # B2BAFSP