Eight Communities, State of Nebraska Proclaim Sept.
15 as Carol Bell Cancer Awareness Day
Eight communities as well as the State of Nebraska have drafted proclamations
declaring Sept. 15 as Carol Bell Cancer Awareness Day. Carol Bell, who
died of lung cancer in August 1997, was the wife of Bob Bell, president
of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce.
The participating communities are Bellevue, Blair, LaVista, Lincoln,
North Platte, Omaha and Papillion in Nebraska and Council Bluffs in Iowa.
The proclamations coincide with the Carol Bell Lectureship which will
be held Wednesday at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The lectureship
is held every two years with each lectureship featuring a nationally recognized
cancer authority on a different area of cancer and cancer research. The
lectureship was initiated last year with gifts to the University of Nebraska
Foundation honoring Carol Bell.
This year’s lecture will feature Lawrence Einhorn, M.D., one of the
physicians who successfully treated Lance Armstrong, the 1999 Tour de France
winner, for testicular cancer. Dr. Einhorn is distinguished professor of
medicine at Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis and is president-elect
of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the largest association
of cancer researchers and clinicians in the United States with 12,000 members.
The lecture will be delivered at noon at the Wittson Hall Amphitheater
on the UNMC campus. Dr. Einhorn also will speak at a dinner at the Joslyn
Museum in the evening. The dinner will be attended by about 200 community
leaders and will be hosted by Michael and Gail Yanney. Michael Yanney
is chief executive officer of America First Companies in Omaha. Gail Yanney
is the immediate past president of the UNMC College of Medicine Alumni
Association. The dinner will showcase the outstanding cancer research and
treatment program at the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center.
Dr. Einhorn is recognized as one of the leading experts in the country
in testicular cancer. He has been a key figure in establishing chemotherapy
protocols for treating testicular cancer and is one of the people credited
with taking it from a devastating disease to a highly curable disease.
Testicular cancer occurs in about 7,400 males every year, according
to the American Cancer Society, but thanks to effective treatment regimens
only about 300 people die each year from the disease.
As one of the physicians who treated Armstrong in 1996-97 after his
testicular cancer had spread to the brain, Dr. Einhorn has received considerable
national media attention. He was recently featured in the Aug. 9 issue
of Sports Illustrated after Armstrong won this year’s Tour de France.
The UNMC Eppley Cancer Center is a National Cancer Institute designated
cancer center a distinction held by only 55 centers in the country. Of
the $34.3 million in competitive, external research grants and contracts
awarded to UNMC in 1997-98, cancer-related research accounted for about
one-half of that amount.
UNMC is the only public academic health science center in the state.
Through its commitment to research, education, outreach and patient care,
UNMC has established itself as one of the country’s leading centers for
cancer research and treatment and solid organ transplantation. UNMC’s educational
programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing
in Nebraska than any other institution.
The University of Nebraska Foundation is a non-profit corporation supplementing
support for students, faculty, facilities and programs at the University
of Nebraska’s four campuses through gifts from alumni, friends, corporations
and other foundations.
A special web site has been developed for the Carol Bell Lectureship.
It can be accessed via the UNMC web site at www.unmc.edu or the Community
Section of Omaha.com. UNMC will conduct live broadcasts of the noon lecture
and a news conference at 2 p.m. featuring Dr. Einhorn and Ken Cowan, M.D.,
Ph.D., the new director of the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center. The public is
invited to view these events via the Internet.