Contact: Vicky Agnew
HCC Director of Strategic Communications
843-792-9335
or
Contact: Martha Smith
AT&T Director of Public Affairs
803-401-2235
martha.smith2@att.com
Aug. 8, 2007
Funds Enhance Cancer Research and Outreach in South Carolina
Charleston -- The Medical University of South Carolina's Hollings Cancer Center announced it has received a three-year, $1 million contribution from the AT&T Foundation, the corporate philanthropy organization of AT&T Inc. The contribution will support the HCC's education and outreach program that works to make black men and others more aware of prostate cancer risks and treatment. The new program will be known as the AT&T Prostate Cancer Outreach Initiative. Additionally, a portion of the gift will allow the HCC to create the AT&T Laboratory for Biomarkers in Cancer. The AT&T Laboratory will allow for research discoveries and ways to better treat and prevent prostate cancer in South Carolina.
"South Carolina ranks third in the nation in prostate cancer deaths, with African-American men having alarmingly higher rates of incidence and mortality than Caucasian men," said Andrew S. Kraft, M.D., director of the HCC. "We are grateful for the confidence in our mission to reduce the cancer burden in the state through world-class research and community outreach."
"I have worked - and will continue to work - to ensure the best services and opportunities to all Carolinians," U.S. Rep. James Clyburn noted. "This alliance of public and private resources is a model for improving health and welfare and providing new opportunities to those who are historically underserved."
Gregg Morton, president of AT&T South Carolina, said the contribution from the AT&T Foundation highlights the company's continuing commitment to diverse and underserved communities and its support for advancing education, health and welfare and economic development.
"This is among several contributions that we have made to South Carolina educational institutions and other programs that focus on diverse and lower-income communities," said Morton. "In recent years, AT&T has contributed more than $200,000 to historically black colleges and universities in South Carolina, as well as other educational programs in the state."
The AT&T Prostate Cancer Outreach Initiative will enhance HCC's comprehensive statewide outreach efforts to include:
• Cancer education and awareness seminars for black ministers.
• Grants for Lowcountry churches to offer prostate cancer education and screenings.
• Prostate cancer screenings for medically underserved communities via the HCC's mobile health unit.
• A new prostate cancer patient navigation program to help newly diagnosed patients access and navigate the health care system for rapid and thorough treatment.
Under the leadership of a leading researcher in the field of molecular biomarker research, the AT&T Laboratory for Biomarkers in Cancer will search for new detection methods, or biomarkers, for prostate cancer. The center's research aims to find new ways to detect prostate cancer and predict therapeutic response. Ultimately, this contribution will allow Hollings Cancer Center to make a significant impact on the dire statistics of prostate cancer deaths in South Carolina.
About Hollings Cancer Center
Hollings Cancer Center offers state-of-the-art diagnostic capabilities, therapies and surgical techniques and has multidisciplinary clinics that involve surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation therapists, radiologists, pathologists, psychologists and many other specialists seeing patients simultaneously under one roof. Multidisciplinary care is provided in disease specific clinics such as thoracic, breast, head & neck, genitourinary, gastrointestinal, hematologic, neuro, and pediatric cancers. The Hollings Cancer Center is the largest academic-based cancer program in South Carolina. The Hollings Cancer Center is currently a developing National Cancer Institute designated cancer center and has more than $35M in cancer research funding. More than 1,000 people are currently participating on a cancer clinical trial at HCC. For more information, please visit www.hcc.musc.edu.
About MUSC
Founded in 1824 in Charleston, The Medical University of South Carolina is the oldest medical school in the South. Today, MUSC continues the tradition of excellence in education, research, and patient care. MUSC educates and trains more than 3,000 students and residents, and has nearly 10,000 employees, including 1,300 faculty members. As the largest non-federal employer in Charleston, the university and its affiliates have collective annual budgets in excess of $1.3 billion. MUSC operates a 600-bed medical center, which includes a nationally recognized Children's Hospital and a leading Institute of Psychiatry. For more information on academic information or clinical services, visit www.musc.edu or www.muschealth.com.
About Philanthropy at AT&T
AT&T Inc. is committed to investing in programs that enhance and enable success in education for students of all ages. Through its philanthropic initiatives and partnerships, AT&T helps build strong communities nationwide by increasing educational opportunities, fostering quality learning and raising student achievement. In 2006, AT&T contributed more than $101 million through corporate-, employee- and AT&T Foundation-giving programs. AT&T and the AT&T Foundation, the corporate philanthropy organization of AT&T, combine more than $1.8 billion of historic charitable commitment to communities across the country.
About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world's most advanced IP-based business communications services and the nation's leading wireless, high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of its three-screen integration strategy, AT&T is expanding its TV entertainment offerings. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com.
© 2007 AT&T Knowledge Ventures. All rights reserved. AT&T and the AT&T logo are trademarks of AT&T Knowledge Ventures. For more information, please review this announcement in the AT&T newsroom at http://www.att.com/newsroom.
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