The Paula and Rodger Riney Foundation gifted $1.8 million to the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences (UAMS) Myeloma Center in the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute to assist in funding multiple myeloma research.
“Paula and I are pleased to invest in the UAMS Myeloma Center, which has made great strides in advancing multiple myeloma research and increasing survival rates,” Rodger Riney said in a statement. “As a multiple myeloma patient, I understand the critical need to pursue new research and treatments, in hopes of ultimately finding a cure.”
Multiple myeloma is a cancer of plasma cells found in the blood. The second most common blood related cancer, this form develops in the bone marrow. The UAMS Myeloma Center’s team have led many advances that have become standards for care. Founded in 1989, the center has seen more than 11,000 patients from around the country and more than 50 foreign countries. The UAMS Myeloma Center performs more stem cell transplants for myeloma than any other center in the world. The Rineys’ gift will help advance the search for cures and prevention.
“We are extremely grateful to the Rineys for their generosity and support,” said Frits van Rhee, M.D., Ph.D., clinical director of the Myeloma Center. “This gift will fund emerging research crucial to innovation of treatment. Since our founding more than 30 years ago, we have made great strides and impacted thousands of lives through world-class care and research. As we continue to build on the progress we have already achieved, cure will become a reality for many more patients.”
Fenghuang “Frank” Zhan, M.D., Ph.D., the center’s research director, will manage the Riney Family Multiple Myeloma Research Program Fund. A plaque will be installed outside Zhan’s laboratory.
Professor of medicine in the College of Medicine, Zhan holds the Morrison Family Endowed Chair in Myeloma Research, and from 2002 to 2008, Zhan was with the Myeloma Center and returned to UAMS last year. His projects focus on genes and drug resistance, molecular genetics and the biology of myeloma, classification of the disease and identifying and targeting myeloma stem cells. He has received two grants from the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health.
“I am grateful to Paula and Rodger for their confidence in my research,” Zhan said. “By better understanding the biology of drug resistance in myeloma, we can develop novel therapies that can reach not only myeloma patients, but those with other solid tumor and blood-related cancers.”
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