Investment of $100,000 Supports Breast Cancer Research

Glimmer of Hope Foundation funds benefit the Magee-Womens Research Institute

PITTSBURGH, December 20, 2006 – Officials from the Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI) will accept a check for $100,000 from Diana Napper, president of The Glimmer of Hope Foundation, and Julie Faneca, wife of Pittsburgh Steelers lineman Alan Faneca, at a special event at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, Dec. 21, at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, 300 Halket St., Oakland. The event will take place in the hospital’s auditorium and represents a portion of the proceeds from the Bid for Hope V event, which was held in October at the Bossa Nova restaurant.

“The Magee-Womens Research Institute has been at the forefront of research concerning health care for women since its inception, and this significant donation will help us search for new options for breast cancer patients. We are grateful that The Glimmer of Hope Foundation has shown such confidence in us,” said Deborah Linhart, president and CEO of MWRI’s parent organization, the Magee-Womens Research Institute & Foundation.

“The Glimmer of Hope Foundation is pleased to make this donation to the Magee-Womens Research Institute,” said Ms. Napper. “We are particularly interested in funding studies on cancer in younger women, making the Magee-Womens Research Institute a natural choice for our support.” In partnership with the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the Magee-Womens Hospital, MWRI is involved in basic and clinical investigations to assess a full range of issues related to breast cancer, including a focus on the effects of the disease on women of childbearing age. Other studies target the underlying causes of breast cancer as well as the psychosocial and behavioral impact of the disease. Magee and UPCI have joined to create one of the largest comprehensive breast cancer programs in the United States, performing more than 95,000 breast imaging procedures and treating 1,000 new breast cancers annually. The Magee-Womens Hospital/UPCI Breast Program currently has 21 clinical trials underway in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.

Established in 1992, MWRI was one of the first research centers to focus specifically on health conditions affecting women and their babies. Now in its second decade, the Institute has grown from 20 faculty members to more than 260 scientists and staff. Construction on a $31 million expansion of the Institute building began in the fall of 2005 with an estimated occupancy in the first quarter of 2007.

The expansion project calls for the addition of 70,000 square feet to more than double the former 50,000-square-foot Institute building, which is located at the corner of Forbes and Craft avenues in Oakland. Designed by the Astorino architectural firm and being built by Massaro Construction Co., the expansion will provide additional space for laboratory, office and support services and enable the Institute to recruit more than 100 additional scientists, researchers, clinicians and other health care professionals.

“This is an exciting time for the Magee-Womens Research Institute. Research advances allow us to understand diseases, and our goal is to rapidly move this knowledge from the laboratory to the patient’s bedside,” said James M. Roberts, MD, founding director of the Institute and professor and vice chair of research in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

MWRI is a member of the Association of Independent Research Institutes, a group of 89 independent, nonprofit research institutes in the United States whose primary mission encompasses a specific research discipline. MWRI has attracted some $185 million in project grant funding focusing on the critical need for research in women’s and infant’s health and representing the Institute’s continued strong ties to the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences and UPMC.

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