Campaign for Cancer Prevention Connects 6 Million+ Members on Facebook Causes to Groundbreaking Research at Brigham and Women's Hospital

BOSTON, Oct. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Campaign for Cancer Prevention (CCP) began in 2007 with the single goal of uniting those across the globe who care about preventing cancer.  It has now grown to a more than 6 million member movement, becoming a leading initiative on the social media platform, Causes.com. Nearly five years later, CCP is an official partner of Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), a Harvard Medical School flagship teaching hospital, with all campaign funds channeled straight to groundbreaking cancer prevention research.

Today, CCP announces eight new cancer research projects at BWH aimed at early detection and ultimately, prevention.  Each will be funded through contributions from members of CCP's social media community through a unique direct-to-science, impact driven approach.  Additionally, CCP and BWH are launching campaignprevent.com, a microsite dedicated to the campaign, allowing them to invest their attention to the direct pursuit of preventing a disease that in 2010 alone claimed more than 7 million lives worldwide.

"After facing a cancer scare at a young age and then earning two degrees in public health, I became invested in finding a direct channel to support those trying to stop this devastating disease," said Dr. Eric Ding, founder and director of Campaign for Cancer Prevention, researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital and faculty member at Harvard Medical School. "When people choose to share their stories, follow our updates, or invest in a donation to CCP, they are supporting talented world-class researchers who have dedicated their practice to preventing cancer."

"As one of the first causes launched on our platform, it's been truly exciting to watch CCP accelerate and increase its impact," said Joe Green, co-founder and president of Causes. "At Causes, we're focused on empowering those who want to make the world a better place and the Campaign for Cancer Prevention is one of our most shining examples."      

The focus of the research projects ranges from the connection between cholesterol levels and risk for ovarian cancer to identifying blood markers to assist in the early detection of breast cancer.  The final eight initiatives were culled from an institutional-wide call for proposals and chosen based on researcher credentials and outstanding potential of cancer prevention projects. Moreover, all CCP projects are designed to deliver results in 11 months or less to yield immediate impact for cancer prevention.  Projects include: 

• Studying the relationship between black women and their vulnerability to lung cancer, led by Joanne M. Foody, MD
• Deciphering the inner workings of a web-based tool to identify a patient's risk for cancer, led by Heather J. Baer, ScD
• Researching whether blood tests can predict a woman's risk for developing breast cancer, led by Bruce S. Kristal, PhD
• Generating the best recommendations for physical activity in order to reduce cancer risk, led by Eric Rimm, ScD
• Identifying markers for early detection of ovarian cancer, led by Melina Shoni, MD
• Research initiative plans to better understand the epigenetic aspects of breast cancer, led by Aditi Hazara, PhD, MPH
• Investigating relationships between ovarian cancer, cholesterol levels and diets in order to establish dietary recommendations to decrease ovarian cancer risk, led by Shelley Tworoger, PhD
• Investigating whether a marker in one's blood holds the secret to determining a person's risk for breast cancer, led by Shumin Zhang, MD, ScD

"Prevention and early detection hold the key to making major inroads against this devastating disease," noted JoAnn Manson, MD, DrPH, chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and a member of the CCP steering committee. "Brigham and Women's Hospital has been at the vanguard of cancer research, and with the support of CCP, will continue to make important contributions to advance our knowledge and save lives."

Continued support and funding is needed.  To become a member and learn more about CCP and the new cancer prevention research projects, visit the website or find us on Causes.com/Cancer or Facebook.com/CancerPrevention.

About the Campaign for Cancer Prevention

Founded by Eric Ding in 2007, The Campaign for Cancer Prevention (CCP), with more than 6 million members, aims to innovate and effectively channel the most cutting-edge research and prevention strategies to prevent cancer. The Campaign is an official partner of Brigham and Women's Hospital, a flagship hospital of Harvard Medical School.

CCP is unique in that its strategy is to connect individuals, corporations and organizations directly with world-class scientists working to prevent and cure cancer. The ultimate goal of CCP is to synergistically accelerate direct-to-science medical research and empower people to self-invest in the fight for cancer prevention. The Campaign also supports several of the world's largest and longest-running studies into understanding cancer causes and preventions. Several of the studies, including The Nurse's Health Study, the longest running study of women in the world, have helped lead the world in finding causes, preventions, and treatments for cancer over the life history of over a quarter million people for more than 35 consecutive years. To learn more, visit campaignprevent.com.

About Brigham & Women's Hospital

Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is a 793-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare, an integrated health care delivery network. BWH is the home of the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, the most advanced center of its kind. BWH is committed to excellence in patient care with expertise in virtually every specialty of medicine and surgery. The BWH medical preeminence dates back to 1832, and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in quality improvement and patient safety initiatives and its dedication to educating and training the next generation of health care professionals. Through investigation and discovery conducted at its Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), www.brighamandwomens.org/research, BWH is an international leader in basic, clinical and translational research on human diseases, involving more than 900 physician-investigators and renowned biomedical scientists and faculty supported by more than $537 M in funding. BWH is also home to major landmark epidemiologic population studies, including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies and the Women's Health Initiative. For more information about BWH, please visit www.brighamandwomens.org

SOURCE Campaign for Cancer Prevention