The Miami Dolphins announced the Dolphins Cancer Challenge VI (DCC VI) raised $5,064,381 for innovative cancer research at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, bringing the event’s six-year total to more than $16M.
“Cancer impacts us all and we at the Miami Dolphins are committed to fighting this disease at every turn,” Miami Dolphins President & CEO and DCC Chair Tom Garfinkel said. “With the expansion of this year’s Dolphins Cancer Challenge to include two new Fall Family Fests, a concert and golf tournament, we were able to give Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center our biggest donation yet in our fight against cancer.”
Started in 2010 by the Miami Dolphins as the signature initiative of the Miami Dolphins Foundation’s health pillar, the DCC is dedicated to improving people’s lives through the financial support of innovative cancer research at Sylvester.
“We are so grateful to the Dolphins organization and to every rider, walker, runner and fundraiser for continuing to support groundbreaking cancer research at Sylvester,” Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center Director Stephen D. Nimer, M.D., said. “On behalf of our team of more than 250 cancer specialists and researchers at Sylvester – and our cancer patients and their families – thank you! It is a truly remarkable achievement as every dollar raised has a tangible impact on cancer research and advancing precision cancer care at Sylvester.”
DCC funds are used to support truly innovative research, helping recruit and retain some of the world’s best minds in cancer research and care and investing in cutting-edge technologies to bring the latest in discoveries for detection, diagnosis and treatment to cancer patients in South Florida and beyond. In just six years, more than $16 million dollars has gone to fund research that leads to more effective targeted therapies for each patient’s cancer, including:
- Precision medicine – discovering, developing and delivering the next generation of precision cancer medicine.
- Immunotherapies – investing in the fast-growing field of cancer immunotherapies that boost the patient’s own immune system to attack and eradicate cancer cells.
- Clinical trials – offering the latest clinical cancer trials to patients, allowing them to receive some of the most promising new therapies targeting the drivers of their particular cancers.
- Radiation oncology research – developing new ways to more precisely deliver radiation therapy in a variety of cancers, concentrating the dosage on cancer cells and leaving healthy tissue unaffected.
- Cancer diagnostics – investing in the newest technologies and best talent to better understand each individual’s cancer and its genetic drivers.
***Photo credit: Miami Dolphins***