The Lynne Cohen Foundation in the News

The Lynne Cohen Foundation For Ovarian Cancer Research

THE LYNNE COHEN CANCER SCREENING AND SYPOSIUM PROJECT FOR WOMEN FUNDED AT NYU MEDICAL CENTER

LOS ANGELES, CA, October 19, 2000 - The Lynne Cohen Foundation for Ovarian Cancer Research has made a generous grant to the Kaplan Comprehensive Cancer Center at NYU Medical Center in New York City to fund a pilot Clinical research initiative-The Lynne Cohen Cancer Screening and symposium Project for High Risk Women.

The pilot project will constitute the core of a broad-based screening program in New York City and, ultimately, a world class Clinical service targeted to women at high risk for cancer, in particular, women of minority ethnic groups and Ashkenazi Jewish women.

Eventually, through further Foundation support and sponsored funding, the pilot program will evolve into a new and unique screening and Clinical care service for underserved women in New York City at high risk, or with increased risk for ovarian, breast and other women's cancers (e.g., endometrial, cervical, tubal). The co-directors of the project are Franco M. Muggia, M.D., Director of Medical Oncology at NYU's Kaplan Comprehensive Cancer Center; and John P. Curtin, M.D., its Director of Gynecologic Oncology. The project will be conducted at Kaplan Cancer Center facilities. At Bellevue Hospital, the advanced services will be offered to 75 to 100 women who do not have access to normal medical screenings. Women referred to the program will receive state-of-the-art preventive care and early detection screening.

A thorough risk assessment, in-depth medical history, as well as routine and advanced screening examinations (physical and laboratory) will be offered to all referrals. Women who are determined to be at very high risk will receive continued monitoring. The program is geared to women having any of the following: BRCA 1 or 2 gene mutation; a first degree (mother, sister, daughter) relative with breast and/or ovarian cancer or multiple family members with breast and/or ovarian cancer; a close (not necessarily first-degree) family relative diagnosed with early age onset breast or ovarian cancer; a breast biopsy with atypical cells or lobular carcinoma in-situ; or a diagnosis of breast or ovarian cancer, one of which

increases the risk for the other.

The project will provide the women in the study with a focused educational component which will help them to make informed choices about risk reduction, genetic testing, preventive measures, and lifestyle issues. The program will also offer advanced and investigational screening methods for early detection as well as access to Clinical trials in cancer symposium and treatment at NYU's Kaplan Cancer Center.

New York University Medical Center's Kaplan Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of the 37 National Institutes of Health-National Cancer Institute's officially designated comprehensive cancer centers in the nation. Faculty at the Kaplan Cancer Center are engaged in basic and Clinical research into the causes of cancers and the development of novel and effective treatments. Preventive and screening programs, as well as hundreds of Clinical trials, are provided to the public through the efforts of the Cancer Center.

Bellevue Hospital, founded in 1726, is the oldest public hospital in the United States and the flagship of New York City's municipal hospital system. It is the principal teaching hospital of NYU School of Medicine, founded in 1841. NYU physicians have been providing care at Bellevue since the early 1800s. The longstanding NYU-Bellevue affiliation defines the School's mission of public service and also represents the premier collaboration in the United States for global and urban medicine.

The Lynne Cohen Foundation for Ovarian Cancer Research is a unique nonprofit foundation that raises funds for cutting-edge medical research in the women's healthcare field. Created in 1998 in memory of Lynne Cohen by her three daughters (in their twenties), The Lynne Cohen Foundation is dedicated to finding an early detection test for ovarian cancer, to establishing high risk symposiums for women with family members who have been diagnosed with ovarian and/or breast cancer, and tofinding better Clinical treatments for women struggling with the disease. The Foundation supports the highest echelon of scientific investigators at prestigious cancer centers throughout the country and funds research projects that have the potential to help women at every conceivable stage of disease.

Ovarian cancer is considered the most deadly gynecological cancer, striking 26,000 women and killing approximately 14,000 every year in the United States. Presently, there is no early detection test for ovarian cancer. As a result, 75 percent of the women diagnosed have late stage disease and only a 12 percent chance of surviving five years. The Lynne Cohen Foundation is entering the arena of preventive care precisely because of its desire to change those statistics. "The projects we choose," says Amy Cohen, President, "elucidate the extraordinary commitment of The Lynne Cohen Foundation to support research which will increase survival and improve the quality of life for women with ovarian cancer."

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