IMPACTS OF GIVING

2021

Already, through the generosity of donors and friends, progress is being made in the fight against cancer. From breakthroughs in research to advancements in patient care, funds raised are going to where they can do the most good. These articles describe some of the impacts donations from Garding Against Cancer are making toward furthering research and compassionate patient care right here in Wisconsin.

  • UW Carbone Cancer Center’s Innovation Fund provides unrestricted funding to strengthen operations, expand scientific capabilities, support faculty recruitment, and advance the development of innovative products and approaches to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer
  • UW Carbone’s shared resources provide campus researchers with a wide variety of services to ensure that their science is supported by state-of-the-art technology and techniques. Shared resources are designed to support multidisciplinary research and unite physicians and scientists to speed the transfer of science to patients.
  • Continued research in colon cancer, pediatric cancer, and brain tumor specialties at UW Carbone
  • Supportive services for patients in Rock and Jefferson counties of Wisconsin.  Some of these services have included a mammogram voucher program, exercise program, financial assistance to those undergoing treatment, and increasing cancer screenings.
  • UW Carbone continues to focus on theranostics, which combines therapeutics and diagnostics and has the potential to revolutionize how cancer is found and treated. This research is ever-evolving at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

2020

In 2020, as the pandemic began, several cancer researchers at UW Carbone Cancer Center, steadfastly continued their life’s work – advancing cancer research that has a global impact. Garding Against Cancer donations supported these endeavors.

  • Improving outcomes for brain cancerMahua Dey, MD studies the immune system’s response in glioblastoma and how that response could be manipulated in the clinic through immunotherapy to get rid of these brain tumors.
  • Pushing Immunotherapy Research Forward
    For nearly 10 years, Christian Capitini, MD has maintained an active research lab at the UW Carbone Cancer Center while also providing care for children with cancer. It’s a varied mix of clinical and laboratory responsibilities, but there’s one big thread that ties it all together: immunotherapy. While the idea of using the body’s own immune system to fight disease isn’t new, significant advances made at UW Madison over the past decade have transformed immunotherapy into an increasingly viable treatment option, especially in pediatrics.
  • Clinical trial offers new treatment
    Kari Wisinski, MD continues to focus her efforts on enrolling breast cancer patients in clinical trials to test new therapies and drugs. Meet a patient enrolled in one of Dr. Wisinski’s trials.
  • The spirit of innovation: The rise of the Precision Medicine Molecular Tumor Board
    UW Carbone’s Precision Medicine Molecular Tumor Board, created in 2015, reviews cancer cases based on patients’ specific genetic mutations. Since its inception, the Tumor Board has reviewed over 5,500 total cases, with the annual number of cases reviewed increasing every year. The board now averages around 1,600 case reviews per year.
  • The Cancer Health Disparities Initiative
    The Cancer Health Disparities Initiative (CHDI) partners with Wisconsin’s underserved communities by working together to improve the health of everyone who faces greater cancer risk. CHDI focuses on:
    • Developing research on cancer disparities.
    • Conducting outreach and education activities with rural, African American, American Indian and Latinx communities.
    • Helping researchers partner effectively with underserved communities.

2019

  • Better Together: Statewide Tumor Board Unites Cancer Research and TreatmentTo cut down on unnecessary cancer treatments, it would be ideal to quickly – and accurately – predict which drugs should be given to which patients. With funding from Garding Against Cancer and tumor samples generously donated by patients to UW Carbone’s Precision Medicine Molecular Tumor Board, Dr. Dusty Deming and colleagues are moving toward just that in colon, pancreas and other cancers.
  • Predicting Breast Cancer Through Machine Learning TechniquesCurrent breast cancer screening guidelines are good, but they could be improved to better screen people with above-average risks. With funding from Garding Against Cancer and a UW2020 grant, Elizabeth Burnside, MD, and her team are combining complex sets of genetic information with machine learning techniques to more precisely identify risk factors and improve early detection of breast cancer.
  • New Microscope Helps Researchers Better See Changes Inside Cancer CellsVisualizing microscopic structures in cells and tissues is a crucial part of understanding how cancers develop. A $50,000 supporting contribution from Garding Against Cancer helped UW-Madison scientists land a $1.3M grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to acquire a new, state-of-the-art electron microscope to peer deep into cancer cells.
  • Rapidly Advancing Cancer ImmunotherapyZach Morris: Immunotherapies are revolutionizing cancer treatment, but they only work in around 15-20% of patients. To improve effects in cancers where immunotherapies tend to work poorly, such as brain cancers or neuroblastoma, Dr. Zach Morris – the featured speaker at this year’s Garding Against Cancer signature event – is using Garding funds to build off of what his group has already found to be successful in immunotherapy and looking for ways to boost the immune system even more.
  • Garding Against Cancer Helps Cancer Patients in the Oshkosh AreaFunding cancer patient care and treatments in the Oshkosh community.
  • Garding Against Cancer Helps Wausau Area Cancer PatientsFunding cancer patient care and treatments in the Wausau community.

2018