Letter from the President of the Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative

Submitted by admin on Thu, 01/26/2012 - 00:00

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Wei Zhang, PhD

President, US Chinese Anti-Cancer Association

 

Dear Dr. Zhang,

 

I would like to bring our organization, the Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative, to the attention of your membership. We are a sarcoma advocacy group which has an international outreach with its online publications and its research grants program.

 

We publish the Electronic Sarcoma Update Newsletter (ESUN). ESUN is an online, peer-reviewed, bi-monthly newsletter that contains articles of interest to patients, caregivers, physicians, and nurses. Its feature articles focus on specific sarcomas and current issues in dealing with these cancers. ESUN¡¯s regular columns cover clinical trials, recent research findings, stories of courage and hope, and news that affect the global sarcoma community. When we published our first issue of ESUN in February 2004, we posted a summary of ¡°Sarcoma Facts¡± in five languages. Today we provide them in twenty-three languages. We embrace the mantra ¡°Sarcoma Knows No Borders,¡± because sarcoma is a disease that can be found anywhere in the body and everywhere in the world. We want our efforts to include all who are affected by sarcoma and everyone working to help them.

 

Consistent with this international view, the members of ESUN¡¯s Medical Advisory and Editorial Board come from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States. ESUN is in its eighth year of publication, and its articles are accessed more than 30,000 times each month worldwide. Crystal Mackall, MD, Chief, Pediatric Oncology Branch, of the National Cancer Institute, recently said, ¡°The Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative is a focus for the brain, heart and soul of the sarcoma community, providing essential resources for scientists, physicians, caregivers, patients and advocates. The ESUN articles published by the Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative are authoritative, comprehensive and eminently readable.  I consider them on par with reviews found in PubMed indexed journals.¡±

 

We have published detailed review articles in ESUN for nineteen types of sarcoma and scores of other articles on sarcoma related topics (see the ESUN Handout). Although an increasing number of people throughout the world can read and speak English, there are many who cannot. Furthermore, reading medical and technical material in a foreign language can be particularly challenging. In order to provide native language access to ESUN material, several sarcoma physicians and researchers have translated a number of ESUN articles. In a few instances, sarcoma patients and survivors have provided initial drafts of the translations. Dr. Jilong Yang, who I understand was awarded a USCACA scholar last year, has been instrumental in many of the Chinese translations. The following twenty-seven translations have already been published, and more are underway.

 


 

Your members may also be interested in our peer-reviewd Research Grants Program. The Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative funds ¡°seed grants"" in sarcoma research. We anticipate that results from these grants will allow the investigator to apply for funding for a larger study. We are interested in a wide range of research topics. Some examples are: understanding the molecular biology of sarcomas; exploring ¡°molecular targets¡± for new sarcoma therapies; studying chromosomal translocations, the oncogenes they generate and their role in sarcoma development; translational studies; studying vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and mTOR inhibitors; studying the use of nanotechnology in the diagnosis and treatment of sarcomas; understanding the basis of radiation-induced sarcoma; modeling of the process of metastases and drug resistance; exploring the differences in the development of sarcomas in children, adolescents, young adults and adults; and research directed at the early detection and diagnosis of sarcoma. Other areas of research will be considered. Our ¡°Funded Research¡± webpage (http://bit.ly/1LXCo6) lists summaries of some of the grants that we have funded, two of which have involved you and Dr. Jilong Yang of Tianjin Cancer Hospital and Institute.

 

Please join us in this global initiative to support sarcoma families and to search for cures to the many forms of this disease.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

Bruce D. Shriver, PhD

Co-Founder, Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative

www.SarcomaHelp.org 

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