The Smith Foundation funds research for breast cancer, genomic medicine

The Smith Foundation has announced a $30 million gift to support collaborative research and personalized medicine at the Breast Center and the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

The Breast Center at BCM will be named the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center, in recognition of the longtime supporters of the college.

The center is one of the few comprehensive breast care centers in the country focused exclusively on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer and breast disease, integrated with an internationally recognized research program.

The Smiths' gift of $30 million includes $12.5 million to the Smith Breast Center, $12.5 million to the Human Genome Sequencing Center and $5 million for public education and community outreach.

In support of the importance of the mission, the college has committed to raise an additional $30 million to match the gift by The Smith Foundation.

"This is where the cures for tomorrow are going to come from," said Lester Smith. "What we are going to see here is the opportunity to deliver highly personalized care to patients. There is a true collaboration between these two departments and that will lead to new discoveries, not only in breast cancer, but other deadly diseases as well."

The Smiths hope their gift, along with other matching contributions, will accelerate breast cancer research, leading to a cure for the disease.

"We are very excited about supporting Baylor because we strongly believe in its ability to be successful," said Mrs. Smith.

"Each time our family has faced cancer, we have turned to the outstanding physicians at Baylor. We are putting all of our efforts behind a team of experts whose lives are dedicated to research, prevention, treatment and ultimately, finding a cure."

BCM President and CEO Dr. Peter G. Traber applauded the Smiths' gift and its advancement of the college's mission.

"Lester and Sue Smith have been very generous to the college, and clearly share the vision we have outlined for taking our nationally recognized advancements in science directly to the patient," he said.

"This collaboration between the breast cancer and genomic programs represents the type of science based, patient-oriented initiative that will lead the way in changing how medicine is practiced in the future."

The gift will help fund breast screening and diagnostic equipment, construction of the new Breast Center at the McNair Campus of BCM, molecular genetic and clinical research and recruitment of faculty and staff.

"All of medicine, in particular cancer medicine, is headed to what we call targeted therapy, which is a part of personalized medicine," said Dr. C. Kent Osborne, director of the Smith Breast Center.

"Collaborating with the genome center, which can measure the genetic abnormalities better than anyone, and combining that with our expertise in biology and treatment of breast cancer, I think is a great collaboration and a win-win situation for patients."

Human Genome Sequencing Center funds will focus on genomic analysis of breast cancer, diabetes and other diseases.

As an example, finding genomic changes in the body, which have both biological and clinical importance, can be used to diagnose cancer and to determine how easily it can be treated or how fast it will grow.

"This is a particularly exciting time in research because we are now able to use the new developments in genome technology to finally get complete and exquisite understanding of genomic changes in individual diseases," said Dr. Richard Gibbs, director of the Human Genome Sequencing Center at BCM.

The Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center is a component of the National Cancer Institute-designated Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center at BCM.

With this recent gift, The Smith Foundation has donated more than $40 million to Baylor College of Medicine since 2001 and has been instrumental in raising millions more.

The Smiths previously supported prostate cancer research and the Scott Department of Urology at BCM, and in 2005 the Urology Clinic at Baylor College of Medicine was named in their honor.