Neversmoker: 'Cigarettes Will Kill Me'
Neversmoker: 'Cigarettes Will Kill Me'
Medscape: Could you tell me about the scope of research funded by your organization?
Ms. Wenger: Since 2003 we have given out grants in the amount of $10 million that go to scientific investigators at all levels: young investigators, post-docs, and senior investigators. A measure of our success is that our grantees have received over $55 million in follow-on funding from sources like the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health. We have world-renowned lung cancer specialists on our medical committee who advise us on and review our grant applications. We get close to 200 grant applications and we award between 10 and 15 a year.
We have also been very successful in giving researchers the seed money to get their studies up and running, helping them get the data that they need for those larger grants. This is an area of real unmet need. It is very difficult, especially in lung cancer, to get that kind of money and many of our former grantees are now running their own labs.
Medscape: What other initiatives does Uniting Against Lung Cancer undertake to support the lung cancer community?
Ms. Wenger: Our signature event is a kite fly. We call it Kites for a Cure®. People come to a beach or park and decorate white kites with their messages of hope or memory. We do this to bring communities of people together to remember loved ones or support loved ones who are battling the disease. We spread the word that anyone can get lung cancer. We think that is a very important message and that these families and patients are deserving of our support no matter how they got lung cancer. There is just tremendous isolation for these families.
Medscape: What else is needed for lung cancer to become a higher priority in the public's eye?
Ms. Wenger: If we had the backing of the corporate world, of consumer companies that have tremendous ability to reach out to people and change perceptions, we think that would make a huge difference in terms of attitudes, and that would lead, we believe, to more funding. As more people begin living longer with lung cancer, and when we have more champions, I think it will help to change perceptions. It is a catch-22: We need the money to help lung cancer patients live longer, but it is hard to raise the money for research when patients don't live very long.
A good friend to our organization was diagnosed 3 years ago. She had been through quite a number of different treatments and had been quoted as saying time after time, "I never smoked, but cigarettes are going to kill me." She lost her battle with lung cancer several weeks ago.
Never-smoker: 'Cigarettes Are Going to Kill Me'
Medscape: Could you tell me about the scope of research funded by your organization?
Ms. Wenger: Since 2003 we have given out grants in the amount of $10 million that go to scientific investigators at all levels: young investigators, post-docs, and senior investigators. A measure of our success is that our grantees have received over $55 million in follow-on funding from sources like the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health. We have world-renowned lung cancer specialists on our medical committee who advise us on and review our grant applications. We get close to 200 grant applications and we award between 10 and 15 a year.
We have also been very successful in giving researchers the seed money to get their studies up and running, helping them get the data that they need for those larger grants. This is an area of real unmet need. It is very difficult, especially in lung cancer, to get that kind of money and many of our former grantees are now running their own labs.
Medscape: What other initiatives does Uniting Against Lung Cancer undertake to support the lung cancer community?
Ms. Wenger: Our signature event is a kite fly. We call it Kites for a Cure®. People come to a beach or park and decorate white kites with their messages of hope or memory. We do this to bring communities of people together to remember loved ones or support loved ones who are battling the disease. We spread the word that anyone can get lung cancer. We think that is a very important message and that these families and patients are deserving of our support no matter how they got lung cancer. There is just tremendous isolation for these families.
Medscape: What else is needed for lung cancer to become a higher priority in the public's eye?
Ms. Wenger: If we had the backing of the corporate world, of consumer companies that have tremendous ability to reach out to people and change perceptions, we think that would make a huge difference in terms of attitudes, and that would lead, we believe, to more funding. As more people begin living longer with lung cancer, and when we have more champions, I think it will help to change perceptions. It is a catch-22: We need the money to help lung cancer patients live longer, but it is hard to raise the money for research when patients don't live very long.
A good friend to our organization was diagnosed 3 years ago. She had been through quite a number of different treatments and had been quoted as saying time after time, "I never smoked, but cigarettes are going to kill me." She lost her battle with lung cancer several weeks ago.
