New York, NY, December 18, 2020 – The New York-based Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation (SWCRF) formally launched the International Center for Aging and Cancer (ICAC) in Hainan, China, in an exuberant inauguration ceremony and conference held today with presentations by research investigators tackling aging as one of the biggest risk factors for cancer.
The SWCRF, Hainan Medical University, and Ruijin Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine have joined forces to found ICAC. It has been established as an academic research center promoting basic, translational, and clinical research to reduce the increasing global burden of cancer as a disease of aging.
“This center is an important achievement as we are addressing the major risk for cancer and that is aging. The incidence of cancer is rising considerably among the world’s aging population, and with the number of adults over age 50 growing, cancer will quite frankly become a worldwide epidemic. The International Center for Aging and Cancer will devote resources to bring together scientists who are studying aging with those who are studying cancer to tackle this global public health crisis. This center will be fully committed to transparency, reciprocity and adherence to the norms of scientific integrity. I am proud that this new center builds upon the SWCRF history of international cooperation and collaboration that transcends politics for the greater good,” said Samuel Waxman, MD., Founder and CEO of the SWCRF.
Ruibao Ren, Director of Shanghai Institute of Hematology and co-organizer of the ICAC inauguration and conference, added, “The recognition of roles of aging in the development of cancer expands the theoretic paradigm for cancer. The meaning of aging here is more pathological, rather than merely a reflection of age. Finding aberrant factors that allow cancerous cells to grow, spread and resistant to therapies will not only shed new lights into the understanding of cancer, but provide new opportunities of effective therapy and prevention. The establishment of ICAC is both important and timely. We will continue to work together to fight the global challenge of cancer.”
During the past several years, the SWCRF spearheaded a renewed focus on aging and cancer, and in 2018, partnered with the National Cancer Institute and National Institute on Aging for a two-year, $3 million intramural and extramural research collaborations. Last year, the SWCRF partnered with Wiley to publish a new scientific peer-reviewed open access journal titled “Aging and Cancer” that is focused on understanding how the process of aging is linked to cancer.
In 2015, Dr. Waxman approached clinical and research leaders in China about establishing an international research center after many years of collaborating with China-based investigators on cancer research. Dr. Waxman’s collaboration that started in the 1980s developed a cure for Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL), a once deadly form of leukemia. The treatment with a greater than 95% success rate uses differentiation therapy without chemotherapy.
ICAC held the inauguration ceremony on Friday, December 18, 2020, in Haikou, a city in Hainan province, along with an international conference featuring prominent scientists in the field of aging and cancer. The conference was televised live via Zoom and featured:
Samuel Waxman, M.D.
CEO and Founder of the SWCRF, Distinguished Service Professor, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Honorary Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Yang Jun, M.D.
President, Hainan Medical University
Chen Zhu, M.D., Ph.D.
Chinese Academy of Science & Vice-Chairman, The Standing Committee of National People’s Congress
James DeGregori, Ph.D. (SWCRF-funded investigator, 2020)
Professor and Chair in Lung Cancer Research at the University of Colorado
Ross Levine, M.D. (SWCRF-funded investigator, 2020)
Chair in Leukemia Research; Chief, Molecular Cancer Medicine Service, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Ashani Weeraratna, Ph.D.
Chair, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
Brian Kennedy, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Physiology at National University of Singapore
Judith Campisi, Ph.D.
Professor, Buck Institute for Research on Aging
Inigo Martincorena, Ph.D.
Group Leader, Sanger Institute
Maria Blasco, Ph.D.
Director Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CINO)
Hartmut Geiger, Ph.D.
Director and Professor at the Institute for Molecular Medicine and Stem Cell Aging at Ulm University
Ruibao Ren, M.D., Ph.D.
Director of Shanghai Institute of Hematology, Ruijin Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.
