Duncan Family Institute for Cancer Prevention and Risk Assessment
At a standing-room-only press conference held Monday, May 15, 2008, Mr. and Mrs. Dan L. Duncan, on behalf of the Dan L. Duncan Family Foundation, presented M. D. Anderson with a gift of $35 million to create the Duncan Family Institute for Cancer Prevention and Risk Assessment. The Duncan’s donation marked the institution’s largest gift toward cancer prevention and its second-largest gift ever.
The Duncan Family Institute for Cancer Prevention and Risk Assessment will further enable M. D. Anderson to:
- Become the world's premier center committed to cancer prevention research and practice with a specific goal of reducing the morbidity and mortality of cancer and its treatment.
- Emerge as a definitive resource for educating the public and health care professionals about state-of-the-art practices in cancer prevention, and the critical role that research plays in advancing knowledge and increasing our ability to offer better options tomorrow.
- Train future generations of researchers and practitioners committed to cancer prevention and to the broader mission of improving and sustaining health.
The singular motivation driving this vision is a shared commitment to improve the outlook for those at increased risk for cancer, cancer survivors, their families and the general public. The Duncan Family Institute for Cancer Prevention and Risk Assessment will foster a unique environment that attracts and retains multidisciplinary teams of world-class faculty and staff experienced in pursuing basic, translational, and clinical science to achieve two interrelated goals:
- Making scientific discoveries focused on the earliest stages of cancer development, mindful of their potential applications to later stage cancers as well.
- Translating those discoveries into new tools and novel applications of existing tools that can be used to reduce the burden of cancer and advance public health, while simultaneously probing the cascade of discovery questions generated by research.
With one of the premier cancer prevention programs in the world, the researchers and physicians of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences are dedicated to increasing the nation’s focus on cancer prevention. Within the next twenty years, we foresee a significant drop in the incidence of the most common cancers. Research in behavioral science, epidemiology and chemoprevention are rapidly increasing the possibilities of preventing even more cancers. This powerful partnership will provide seed funding for promising new projects to accelerate the pace of discovery and the translation of findings to the clinic and community. Together, M. D. Anderson and the Dan L. Duncan Family Foundation will inspire scientific discoveries that may be translated into real-world changes and reduce the burden of cancer on individuals, families and society.