The Melanoma Research Foundation’s CURE OM Initiative Announces New Research Grant Recipients and Celebrates Two-Year Anniversary

Sacramento Bee, October 31, 2013

CURE OM (Community United for Research and Education of Ocular Melanoma) was launched two years ago, by the Melanoma Research Foundation, to support research into treatment for ocular melanoma. Their initiative acknowledged a form of melanoma seriously lacking effective treatments once it reaches metastasis.

Under this program to date:

1. MRF has awarded $650,000 to research for ocular melanoma
2. 2013 CURE OM research grant awardees Dr. William Tansey from Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Dr. Richard Carvajal from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, both of whom will look deeper into the signaling pathways of OM with the goal of understanding better how to target and halt the disease with effective treatments.
3. 2012 CURE OM award recipients, Dr. Levi Garraway and Dr. John Sondek.
4. Since 2011, CURE OM has joined forces and forged meaningful partnerships with organizations including the National Cancer Institute, The Cancer Genome Atlas and The Society for Melanoma Research to drive research efforts.
5. CURE OM has hosted four international scientific meetings and developed an interdisciplinary and international scientific steering committee.
6. CURE OM has opened new avenues to support, inform, and connect with the OM community.
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