University Times

Last month’s annual gala to benefit the UPMC Cancer Centers and University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), featuring a concert by Grammy award winner Tony Bennett, raised more than $1.1 million in sponsorships and contributions for patient care and cancer research.

In addition, UPCI announced a $1.5 million gift to establish a national center for innovative techniques to deliver treatment directly to a tumor. Taken together, the funds raised made the annual gala, “The Best Is Yet to Come: A Future Without Cancer,” the largest and most successful for the UPMC Cancer Centers and UPCI.

Announcing the $1.5 million gift to establish the David C. Koch Regional Perfusion Cancer Therapy Center, Stanley Marks, deputy director for clinical services at UPCI, said, “This generous gift from the Koch family represents a major step toward building a future without cancer and will help us to further develop ground-breaking work on regional perfusion approaches that allow patients to receive higher doses of therapeutic agents directly to a tumor site.”

Marks added that these approaches, being pioneered by David Bartlett, associate professor of surgery at Pitt’s School of Medicine and chief of surgical oncology at UPCI, will provide hope for thousands of patients faced with advanced cancers.