{"id":6805,"date":"2016-02-23T12:30:31","date_gmt":"2016-02-23T17:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cooperhealth.org\/news\/?p=6805"},"modified":"2016-02-24T11:52:54","modified_gmt":"2016-02-24T16:52:54","slug":"cooper-announces-2-million-grant-from-william-g-rohrer-charitable-foundation-to-support-cancer-genetics-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cooperhealth.org\/news\/2016\/02\/cooper-announces-2-million-grant-from-william-g-rohrer-charitable-foundation-to-support-cancer-genetics-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooper Announces $2 Million Grant from William G. Rohrer Charitable Foundation to Support Cancer Genetics Program"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"From<\/a>

From left: Generosa Grana, MD, director, MD Anderson at Cooper; Adrienne Kirby, PhD, FACHE, president and chief executive officer of Cooper University Health Care; Linda Rohrer, President of the Rohrer Foundation; Ed Warner; Griffin Clarke (front center); Stacey Clarke; Chapman Vail; and Susan Bass Levin, president and chief executive officer of The Cooper Foundation.<\/p><\/div>\n

Cooper University Health Care Chairman George E. Norcross, III, today announced that the William G. Rohrer Charitable Foundation has awarded The Cooper Foundation<\/a> a $2 million grant to help fund the expansion of the cancer genetics program at MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper.<\/a><\/p>\n

The grant is the largest to MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper since it opened in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this grant we are taking a major step forward toward our goal of conquering cancer,\u201d said Norcross. \u201cI am deeply appreciative of the William G. Rohrer Charitable Foundation\u2019s support for MD Anderson Cooper and for sharing our commitment to bringing the best possible cancer care to patients across the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norcross announced the grant during an afternoon news conference at MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper. He was joined by Linda Rohrer, President, William G. Rohrer Foundation; Susan Bass Levin, President and CEO, The Cooper Foundation; Adrienne Kirby, President and CEO, Cooper University Health Care, and Generosa Grana, MD, Director, MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis grant is a reflection of my family\u2019s longstanding love of Cooper and our great admiration for the life-saving care and research that takes place here each and every day,\u201d said Rohrer, who was born at Cooper and served on the Cooper Board of Trustees. \u201cThe cancer genetics program at MD Anderson Cooper represents the future of cancer care, and my dad would want to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rohrer\u2019s father, the late William G. Rohrer, also served on the Cooper Board of Trustees and was mayor of Haddon Township for 36 years. The cancer genetics program will officially be named the William G. Rohrer Cancer Genetics Program in his honor.<\/p>\n

The program provides genetic counseling, testing and long-term cancer risk reduction strategies for people at increased risk for cancer due to hereditary mutations. The program also focuses on the evolving use of molecular profiling to define cancer treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cCancer is a genetically driven disease,\u201d said Grana. \u201cGenetic variation in healthy individuals may predispose them to developing certain cancers, and genetic alterations in the cancer cells themselves determine prognosis and response to anti-cancer drugs. Until recently, certain types of cancer, such as breast and lung, were largely treated the same irrespective of their genetic make-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe funding from this generous grant allows us to expand our cancer genetics program to provide testing and counseling to more patients and enables patients to receive personalized medicine regimens of new drugs to target their tumor based on its genomic sequencing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program will be expanded in phases and will include:<\/p>\n