MISSION

The mission of the Columbus Cancer Research Foundation, a non-profit charitable 501(c)3 organization,  is to develop, pursue, and coordinate clinical and laboratory research in the United States, Italy and worldwide and to improve the care of cancer patients through innovative basic, translational and clinical research and health education programs. Our goal is to increase public awareness about cancer, and to improve the quality of life for people living with the disease.

GOALS

The Columbus Cancer Foundation supports the development of new scientific strategies to diagnose and cure cancer. Our core initiatives are to:

1. Support Patient Care

2. Initiate and Sponsor Cutting Edge Research

3. Promote Patient and Family Education

SUPPORT PATIENT CARE

Working with top minds in the U.S. and Italy, the foundation will directly improve the quality of life for patients with cancer. Funds will  provide patients at the San Camillo Forlanini Hospital, a complex in Rome which is one of the largest hospitals in Europe, access to the most modern therapies available through participation in international clinical research protocols.

INITIATE AND SPONSOR CUTTING EDGE RESEARCH

The CCF will fund the work of American and European medical oncologists, radiation therapists, surgeons, pathologists and laboratory scientists involved in the latest research protocols and translational research programs that are integrated into clinical trials. Translational research (which correlates laboratory research with clinical patient care), can help doctors to gain insights into the mechanisms  of drugs and can speed the development of cancer  treatments targeted  to an individual patient with cancer

International collaboration is a hallmark of today’s research. The Foundation will promote  international networking of clinical trial groups, including standardization of clinical trial protocols and data collection, training in good clinical practice, communication and liaison with patients and families and support for individual clinical trials, where appropriate.

In the last few years, numerous innovative agents have been discovered as a result of the tremendous advances in the understanding of the molecular basis of cancer. Further clinical progress in cancer treatment will be accomplished mainly through the conduct of translational research projects, efficient new drug development and the execution of prospective cancer clinical trials. The CCF will collaborate with the European Organization for the Research  and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), with Italian cooperative groups and with the best cancer centers in the United States and throughout the world, in order to improve our knowledge about cancer and to improve the quality of patient care.

PROMOTE PATIENT AND FAMILY EDUCATION

Educational programs funded by CCF will be developed that will directly help cancer patients and their families, physicians, and nurses who are caring for cancer patients. This will be accomplished by:

[a] Organizing, co-sponsoring and participating in international and national scientific symposia and conferences,

[b] Providing educational materials and information resources for patients and their families concerning cancer treatment and its prevention,

[c] Organizing  theoretical and practical courses on clinical research, protocol development and ethics for oncologists and nurses involved in oncology clinical trials,

[d] Providing scholarships for young medical oncologists to work at San Camillo, and

[e] Offering scholarships for physicians to study abroad in Europe and in the USA.

These core strategic initiatives can best be accomplished through multidisciplinary and often multinational efforts of physicians and scientists in Europe and the United States.