How Your Gift Can Make a Difference

Giving to Services for Cancer Patients and to Cancer Research at UPCI and UPMC Cancer Centers

The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and UPMC Cancer Centers work in tandem to provide the most compassionate, sophisticated care to cancer patients from the tri-state region and beyond.

With its broad network of community cancer physicians - and the Hillman Cancer Center serving as its flagship site - UPMC Cancer Centers represents the clinical arm of all outpatient and inpatient cancer programs: the services through which we offer patients the latest advances in detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

The hub for scientific and clinical research activities, including clinical trials, is UPCI. UPCI researchers are making important discoveries in their laboratories and working diligently to translate their scientific findings into viable treatments for patients.

As long as cancer continues to be a major health care concern in this community and beyond, there will be a commensurate need for philanthropy to ensure that UPMC Cancer Centers and UPCI remain world-class institutions with state-of-the-art equipment, innovative medical programs, effective screening and prevention technologies, and compassionate support systems for patients and their families. The areas outlined below represent various giving opportunities available for our organizations.

For more information or to inquire about other possibilities for giving, please call us at 412-623-4700.

Current Giving Opportunities:

• Endowments, Major Gifts and Other Naming Opportunities
• The Annual Fund
• Specific Program Needs

Endowments, Major Gifts and Other Naming Opportunities

Endowment funds play a fundamental role in supporting and helping to advance the missions of UPCI and UPMC Cancer Centers. Endowment funds are permanent legacies that provide significant donor recognition as well as vital annual income in perpetuity for UPCI or UPMC Cancer Centers.

Some of our endowment opportunities include:

• Endowed chairs, which enable us to retain outstanding faculty members and attract new faculty “stars” to lead our clinical and basic research programs: $2 million

  UPCI and UPMC Cancer Centers current list of Chairs include the following:

  • The Claude Worthington Benedum Endowed Chair in Radiation Oncology
  • The Hillman Endowed Chair in Oncology
  • The Richard M. Cyert Endowed Chair in Molecular Oncology
  • The Arnold Palmer Endowed Chair in Cancer Prevention
  • The Lawrence Ellis Endowed Chair in Hematology and Oncology
  • The Sampson Family Endowed Chair in Thoracic Surgical Oncology
  • The Bernard Fisher Endowed Chair in Surgical Oncology
  • The Sandra and Thomas Usher Endowed Chair in Melanoma
  • The Giant Eagle Foundation Endowed Chair in Cancer Genetics
  • UPMC Endowed Chair in Head and Neck Cancer Surgical Research

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• Endowed faculty or postdoctoral fellowships, which enable us to attract or retain nationally prominent professionals: $500,000 - $1 million
• Endowed fellowships, which ensure our ability to provide research training for fellows — the future generations of physicians and scientists: $350,000
• Named endowment funds, which can provide “seed” monies for young investigators working to build their programs; funding for senior investigators to conduct highly innovative or specialized research; support for the acquisition and maintenance of new research equipment for laboratories; support for unrestricted research to launch unique programs and major initiatives in cancer detection, prevention or support for general cancer research: $50,000 +

For more information on endowments, major gifts and other naming opportunities, please call our Development Office at 412-623-4700

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The Annual Fund

The Annual Fund provides a broad scope of vital support for the recruitment of new physicians and scientists, operation of our basic research programs, clinical research and care programs, translational research (“translation” of basic science discoveries in the laboratory into viable clinical treatments for patients), patient education and outreach programs.

For more information on the Annual Fund, please call our Development Office at 412-623-4700.

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Specific Program Needs

At UPMC Cancer Centers and UPCI, our clinicians and scientists often focus their efforts on particular kinds of cancer. You may wish to designate your gift for a specific purpose.

For more information on giving opportunities in our many specialty areas and specific needs within those areas, such as melanoma, radiation oncology or surgical oncology, please call our Development Office at 412-623-4700.