Lakewood Company Researches Early Cancer Detection
Published Apr 16, 2004
While many researchers are concentrating on finding a cure for cancer, scientists at the American Medical Center Cancer Research Center in Lakewood are busy searching for the prevention.
Researchers and scientists at the center believe that prevention combined with early detection may be the best way to control and defeat cancer, as well as other chronic diseases.
The rationale behind this approach is rooted in medical history, says Dr. Thomas Slaga, Ph.D., the center’s scientific director.
“All of the diseases in the past that we have been successful at controlling have not been through cure but through prevention,” he says.
The 50,000-square-foot center, with its state-of-the-art laboratories and research programs, is a leader in the fight against cancer. But 100 years ago, it was breaking ground in the fight against another devastating disease – tuberculosis.
Dr. Charles Spivak founded the center’s predecessor, the Jewish Consumptives Relief Society, on the site in 1904. Spivak dedicated the organization he founded and his life’s work to researching and treating the disease.
Fast forward to 2004: Scientists at the AMC Cancer Research Center are ferreting out information about the genetics and molecular development of cancer.
“By trying to understand the causation of cancer, be it cigarette smoke or overcooked foods or asbestos or heavy metals, we can have a better understanding of how to approach eliminating the potential bad effects,” Slaga says. “All of our resources go into prevention and control.”
AMC offers free counseling, via phone at (800) 525-3777, for people living with cancer, as well as for their families and friends.
Story by Sue Lenthe
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