Pap Dollars at Work

At the final Monthly Presidents’ Meeting of its 2010-2011 fiscal year, The Pap Corps, Champions for Cancer Research, turned over a check for $3.4 million to Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. The more than 300 members gathered at Boca West Country Club cheered their all-volunteer organization for their outstanding achievement. This year’s donation surpassed last year’s by $200,000.At the 2010 Donor luncheon, The Pap Corps presented a check for $3,200,000 to the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. This money, raised by The Pap Corps’ more than 21,000 volunteers, has been distributed to the following Sylvester research departments:

Pap Corps President Naomi Prever, Executive VP JoAnne Goldberg and Treasurer Hannah Scheff presented the check to Joseph D. Rosenblatt, M.D., interim director of Sylvester, W. Jarrard Goodwin, M.D., chief medical officer of Sylvester/UMHC – University of Miami Hospital and Clinics, and Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D., Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs and Dean of the Miller School and Chief Executive Officer of UHealth-University of Miami Health System. The grateful doctors were visibly touched by the group’s outstanding donation.

For Goodwin, this was his 16th check presentation from The Pap Corps. After thanking the three Pap executive officers, he told the attendees that they should take great pride in being part of The Pap Corps. “It’s safe to say that you are all an integral part of the work that we do,” he added. Goodwin praised the organization for inspiring Sylvester to take the giant step of creating satellite offices, such as the expansion of the Deerfield Beach facility. “We wouldn’t be there but for The Pap Corps.”

Dr. Rosenblatt pointed out that “while enormous progress has been made in cancer treatment, there is still a lot more to do and the only way is through research.” Ten years ago, 30 percent of grant applications were funded, but that number has plunged to just 7 percent, making the Pap gift a lifeline. “Because your fundraising fills this void and enables us to keep seeking therapies, our partnership is life and death,” Rosenblatt told the group.

Dean Goldschmidt admitted that each year, he can’t wait for this day to arrive. “Wow!” he declared. “You deserve to give yourselves a round of applause.” He drew heartfelt applause when he promised, “we will never be comfortable; we will never sit down until we develop effective treatments for all types of cancer.”

President Prever praised the volunteers for their continuing commitment to achieving their mission: a world without cancer. “It is because of you,” she said, “that we are a larger, stronger and more successful organization. She then thanked The Pap Corps Executive Committee for “making the community aware of the important research going on at Sylvester,” and closed her remarks declaring “Let’s outdo ourselves again!”

A Glimpse at Where Our Money Goes

• Rakesh Singal, M.D., associate professor of medicine and a member of the Prostate, Bladder and Kidney Cancers Site Disease Group at Sylvester, has developed a novel clinical trial using a drug therapy to treat advanced prostate cancer that has become resistant to chemotherapy.
• Francisco Civantos, M. D. and Giovana Thomas, M.D., associate professors of otolaryngology performed the first removal of throat cancer in South Florida, using a surgical robot.
• Leo Twiggs, M. D., professor and chairman of obstetrics and gynecology, presented clinical trial results for the LightTouch cervical scan. The study indicated that some women with significant cervical disease could have been diagnosed up to two years earlier using the LightTouch cervical scan.
• Eli Gilboa, Ph.D., Dodson Professor of Microbiology and Immunology led a research team that discovered a novel method that triggers the immune system to attack tumor cells. “We’ve developed what could become an alternative to vaccines that would be simpler, broadly applicable and potentially more effective,” Dr. Gilboa said.