University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Receives $1 Million Donation to Melanoma Program

PITTSBURGH, April 26 – Retired United States Steel Corporation CEO and chairman, Thomas Usher and his wife Sandra have announced a $1 million donation to the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute's melanoma program. The donation has established The Sandra and Thomas Usher Endowed Fund for Melanoma to promote clinical strategies to prevent, detect, diagnose and treat melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer that causes more than 80 percent of skin cancer-related fatalities. Mr. Usher, a melanoma survivor, was diagnosed with the disease in 1998.

"Melanoma can be a devastating diagnosis," said John Kirkwood, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and director of UPCI's melanoma program. "This disease has previously had few available treatment options after surgery, and we have dedicated our program to developing more effective approaches to the disease. I am extremely grateful to Tom and Sandra, because their generosity will allow us to pursue promising, new approaches to more specific molecular and vaccine treatments that we hope will translate into curative treatment and ultimately into effective prevention."

"Dr. Kirkwood is a recognized expert in melanoma who established the first medical treatment that is capable of preventing melanoma relapse and death. His research has touched the lives of numerous cancer patients and their families and has had a huge impact on moving the field of melanoma research forward," said Mr. Usher.

According to Dr. Kirkwood, the funds provided by the Ushers will be used to bring the most advanced new molecular and immunological approaches to treatment into the clinic, including vaccines that may spur the body's immune system into recognizing and destroying melanoma.

Nearly 60,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with melanoma this year alone.

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UPMC News Bureau