Dear Colleagues and Friends,

It is our great pleasure to announce that Emory University Winship Cancer Institute (Emory WCI) Head and Neck Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) has been funded. This is a historical milestone of the Emory University Winship Cancer Institute’s Science Team.

The overall goal of the Emory WCI HNC SPORE is to improve prevention and treatment of head and neck cancer with emphasis on new discoveries, rapid translation to patients who are suffering, disability and morbidity caused by the disease. The SPORE program consists of four (4) major translational research projects, two research cores, an administrative core, a developmental research program, and a career development program. The WCI HNC SPORE uses an interdisciplinary approach to meet its objectives by carrying out projects with co-investigators in basic, translational, and clinical science. All projects have test hypotheses about biology, prevention, molecularly and nanotechnology driven novel therapeutic approaches. The four (4) main projects are: (1) Chemoprevention with Green Tea Polyphenon E and EGFR-TKIs in HNC; (2) Targeting Death Receptors-Mediated Apoptosis for HNC; (3) Developmental of Novel Curcumin Analogs for the Treatment of Head and Neck Cancer, (4) Biodegradable Nanoparticle Formulated Taxol for Targeted Therapy of HNC. Each project in our SPORE program is centered on clearly defined translational objectives including pilot clinical trials (project 1, Phase 1 Study of Chemoprevention; project 2, biomarker studies; project 3, phase 0 trial of EF24; project 4, phase 1b clinical study) that have close interaction with the cores. The two research cores (Specimen Resources and Pathology Core, Biostatistics and Data Management Core) will assist the main research projects, developmental research projects, and career developmental investigators in performing head and neck cancer translational research. The Administrative Core will provide scientific and financial oversight for the SPORE program. We also have Developmental Research Program and Career Developmental Program in the SPORE.

We are thrilled and excited for this achievement, while we need to constantly put our energy to achieve out mission and goals of these projects to make a difference for our patients and family